Time division multiple access (TDMA) media access control (MAC) adapted for single user, multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless communications

ABSTRACT

Time division multiple access (TDMA) media access control (MAC) adapted for single user, multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless communications. Various com systems may include smart meter stations (SMSTAs) and/or wireless stations (STAs). Appropriate coordination is made with respect to such communication devices to ensure appropriate uplink (and/or downlink) communications between a network manager or coordinator (e.g., an access point (AP)) and the SMSTAs and/or STAs. With respect to SMSTAs, the relative duration of time that such communication devices are awake and operative versus asleep (or in a reduced power and/or functionality state) can be significant. Certain implementations may include a relatively large number of such communication devices (e.g., 10s, 100s, 1000s, or more), and appropriate coordination and scheduling of such communications to/from them is made using one or more variations of TDMA signaling (e.g., including different respective service periods (SPs), communication medium access operational modes, adaptation thereof, etc.).

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENTS/PATENT APPLICATIONS

The present U.S. Utility patent application claims priority pursuant to35 U.S.C. §120 as a continuation of U.S. Utility application Ser. No.13/539,186, entitled “Time division multiple access (TDMA) media accesscontrol (MAC) adapted for single user, multiple user, multiple access,and/or MIMO wireless communications,” filed Jun. 29, 2012, pending, andscheduled subsequently to be issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,958,398 on Feb.17, 2015 (as indicated in an ISSUE NOTIFICATION mailed from the USPTO onJan. 27, 2015), which claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(e) toU.S. Provisional Application No. 61/539,352, entitled “Time divisionmultiple access (TDMA) media access control (MAC) adapted for singleuser, multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wirelesscommunications,” filed Sep. 26, 2011 and U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 61/539,357, entitled “Smart meter media access control (MAC) forsingle user, multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wirelesscommunications,” filed Sep. 26, 2011, all of which are herebyincorporated herein by reference in their entirety and made part of thepresent U.S. Utility patent application for all purposes.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The following U.S. Utility patent application are hereby incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety and made part of the present U.S.Utility patent application for all purposes:

1. U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 13/539,194, entitled “Smartmeter media access control (MAC) for single user, multiple user,multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless communications,” filed Jun. 29,2012, pending, which also claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(e)to the following U.S. Provisional Patent Applications which are herebyincorporated herein by reference in their entirety and made part of thepresent U.S. Utility patent application for all purposes:

-   -   1.1. U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/539,352,        entitled “Time division multiple access (TDMA) media access        control (MAC) adapted for single user, multiple user, multiple        access, and/or MIMO wireless communications,” filed Sep. 26,        2011, now expired.    -   1.2. U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/539,357,        entitled “Smart meter media access control (MAC) for single        user, multiple user, multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless        communications,” filed Sep. 26, 2011, now expired.

2. U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 12/796,655, entitled “Groupidentification and definition within multiple user, multiple access,and/or MIMO wireless communications,” filed on Jun. 8, 2010, nowexpired.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The following IEEE standards/draft standards are hereby incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety and are made part of the presentU.S. Utility patent application for all purposes:

1. IEEE Std 802.11™—2012, “IEEE Standard for Informationtechnology—Telecommunications and information exchange betweensystems—Local and metropolitan area networks—Specific requirements; Part11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY)Specifications,” IEEE Computer Society, Sponsored by the LAN/MANStandards Committee, IEEE Std 802.11™—2012, (Revision of IEEE Std802.11-2007), 2793 total pages (incl. pp. i-xcvi, 1-2695).

2. IEEE Std 802.11n™—2009, “IEEE Standard for Informationtechnology—Telecommunications and information exchange betweensystems—Local and metropolitan area networks—Specific requirements; Part11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY)Specifications; Amendment 5: Enhancements for Higher Throughput,” IEEEComputer Society, IEEE Std 802.11n™—2009, (Amendment to IEEE Std802.11™—2007 as amended by IEEE Std 802.11k™—2008, IEEE Std802.11r™—2008, IEEE Std 802.11y™—2008, and IEEE Std 802.11r™—2009), 536total pages (incl. pp. i-xxxii, 1-502).

3. IEEE Draft P802.11-REVmb™/D12, November 2011 (Revision of IEEE Std802.11™—2007 as amended by IEEE Std 802.11k™—2008, IEEE Std802.11r™—2008, IEEE Std 802.11y™—2008, IEEE Std 802.11w™—2009, IEEE Std802.11n™—2009, IEEE Std 802.11p™—2010, IEEE Std 802.11z™—2010, IEEE Std802.11v™—2011, IEEE Std 802.11u™—2011, and IEEE Std 802.11s™—2011),“IEEE Standard for Information technology—Telecommunications andinformation exchange between systems—Local and metropolitan areanetworks—Specific requirements; Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium AccessControl (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications,” Prepared by the802.11 Working Group of the LAN/MAN Standards Committee of the IEEEComputer Society, 2910 total pages (incl. pp. i-cxxviii, 1-2782).

4. IEEE P802.11ac™/D2.1, March 2012, “Draft STANDARD for InformationTechnology—Telecommunications and information exchange betweensystems—Local and metropolitan area networks—Specific requirements, Part11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY)specifications, Amendment 4: Enhancements for Very High Throughput forOperation in Bands below 6 GHz,” Prepared by the 802.11 Working Group ofthe 802 Committee, 363 total pages (incl. pp. i-xxv, 1-338).

5. IEEE P802.11ad™/D6.0, March 2012, (Draft Amendment based on IEEEP802.11REVmb D12.0), (Amendment to IEEE P802.11REVmb D12.0 as amended byIEEE 802.11ae D8.0 and IEEE 802.11aa D9.0), “IEEE P802.11ad™/D6.0 DraftStandard for Information Technology—Telecommunications and InformationExchange Between Systems—Local and Metropolitan Area Networks—SpecificRequirements—Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) andPhysical Layer (PHY) Specifications—Amendment 3: Enhancements for VeryHigh Throughput in the 60 GHz Band,” Sponsor: IEEE 802.11 Committee ofthe IEEE Computer Society, IEEE-SA Standards Board, 664 total pages.

6. IEEE Std 802.11ae™—2012, “IEEE Standard for Informationtechnology—Telecommunications and information exchange betweensystems—Local and metropolitan area networks—Specific requirements; Part11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY)Specifications,” “Amendment 1: Prioritization of Management Frames,”IEEE Computer Society, Sponsored by the LAN/MAN Standards Committee,IEEE Std 802.11ae™—2012, (Amendment to IEEE Std 802.11™—2012), 52 totalpages (incl. pp. i-xii, 1-38).

7. IEEE P802.11af™/D1.06, March 2012, (Amendment to IEEE Std802.11REVmb™/D12.0 as amended by IEEE Std 802.11ae™/D8.0, IEEE Std802.11aa™/D9.0, IEEE Std 802.11ad™/D5.0, and IEEE Std 802.11ac™/D2.0),“Draft Standard for Information Technology—Telecommunications andinformation exchange between systems—Local and metropolitan areanetworks—Specific requirements—Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium AccessControl (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications—Amendment 5: TVWhite Spaces Operation,” Prepared by the 802.11 Working Group of theIEEE 802 Committee, 140 total pages (incl. pp. i-xxii, 1-118).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field of the Invention

The invention relates generally to communication systems; and, moreparticularly, it relates to coordination and operation of multiplewireless communication devices within single user, multiple user,multiple access, and/or MIMO wireless communications.

2. Description of Related Art

Communication systems are known to support wireless and wire linedcommunications between wireless and/or wire lined communication devices.Such communication systems range from national and/or internationalcellular telephone systems to the Internet to point-to-point in-homewireless networks. Each type of communication system is constructed, andhence operates, in accordance with one or more communication standards.For instance, wireless communication systems may operate in accordancewith one or more standards including, but not limited to, IEEE 802.11x,Bluetooth, advanced mobile phone services (AMPS), digital AMPS, globalsystem for mobile communications (GSM), code division multiple access(CDMA), local multi-point distribution systems (LMDS),multi-channel-multi-point distribution systems (MMDS), and/or variationsthereof.

Depending on the type of wireless communication system, a wirelesscommunication device, such as a cellular telephone, two-way radio,personal digital assistant (PDA), personal computer (PC), laptopcomputer, home entertainment equipment, etc., communicates directly orindirectly with other wireless communication devices. For directcommunications (also known as point-to-point communications), theparticipating wireless communication devices tune their receivers andtransmitters to the same channel or channels (e.g., one of the pluralityof radio frequency (RF) carriers of the wireless communication system)and communicate over that channel(s). For indirect wirelesscommunications, each wireless communication device communicates directlywith an associated base station (e.g., for cellular services) and/or anassociated access point (e.g., for an in-home or in-building wirelessnetwork) via an assigned channel. To complete a communication connectionbetween the wireless communication devices, the associated base stationsand/or associated access points communicate with each other directly,via a system controller, via the public switch telephone network, viathe Internet, and/or via some other wide area network.

For each wireless communication device to participate in wirelesscommunications, it includes a built-in radio transceiver (i.e., receiverand transmitter) or is coupled to an associated radio transceiver (e.g.,a station for in-home and/or in-building wireless communicationnetworks, RF modem, etc.). As is known, the receiver is coupled to theantenna and includes a low noise amplifier, one or more intermediatefrequency stages, a filtering stage, and a data recovery stage. The lownoise amplifier receives inbound RF signals via the antenna andamplifies them. The one or more intermediate frequency stages mix theamplified RF signals with one or more local oscillations to convert theamplified RF signal into baseband signals or intermediate frequency (IF)signals. The filtering stage filters the baseband signals or the IFsignals to attenuate unwanted out of band signals to produce filteredsignals. The data recovery stage recovers raw data from the filteredsignals in accordance with the particular wireless communicationstandard.

As is also known, the transmitter includes a data modulation stage, oneor more intermediate frequency stages, and a power amplifier. The datamodulation stage converts raw data into baseband signals in accordancewith a particular wireless communication standard. The one or moreintermediate frequency stages mix the baseband signals with one or morelocal oscillations to produce RF signals. The power amplifier amplifiesthe RF signals prior to transmission via an antenna.

Typically, the transmitter will include one antenna for transmitting theRF signals, which are received by a single antenna, or multiple antennae(alternatively, antennas), of a receiver. When the receiver includes twoor more antennae, the receiver will select one of them to receive theincoming RF signals. In this instance, the wireless communicationbetween the transmitter and receiver is a single-output-single-input(SISO) communication, even if the receiver includes multiple antennaethat are used as diversity antennae (i.e., selecting one of them toreceive the incoming RF signals). For SISO wireless communications, atransceiver includes one transmitter and one receiver. Currently, mostwireless local area networks (WLAN) that are IEEE 802.11, 802.11a,802.11b, or 802.11g employ SISO wireless communications.

Other types of wireless communications includesingle-input-multiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input-single-output(MISO), and multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO). In a SIMO wirelesscommunication, a single transmitter processes data into radio frequencysignals that are transmitted to a receiver. The receiver includes two ormore antennae and two or more receiver paths. Each of the antennaereceives the RF signals and provides them to a corresponding receiverpath (e.g., LNA, down conversion module, filters, and ADCs). Each of thereceiver paths processes the received RF signals to produce digitalsignals, which are combined and then processed to recapture thetransmitted data.

For a multiple-input-single-output (MISO) wireless communication, thetransmitter includes two or more transmission paths (e.g., digital toanalog converter, filters, up-conversion module, and a power amplifier)that each converts a corresponding portion of baseband signals into RFsignals, which are transmitted via corresponding antennae to a receiver.The receiver includes a single receiver path that receives the multipleRF signals from the transmitter. In this instance, the receiver usesbeam forming to combine the multiple RF signals into one signal forprocessing.

For a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication, thetransmitter and receiver each include multiple paths. In such acommunication, the transmitter parallel processes data using a spatialand time encoding function to produce two or more streams of data. Thetransmitter includes multiple transmission paths to convert each streamof data into multiple RF signals. The receiver receives the multiple RFsignals via multiple receiver paths that recapture the streams of datautilizing a spatial and time decoding function. The recaptured streamsof data are combined and subsequently processed to recover the originaldata.

With the various types of wireless communications (e.g., SISO, MISO,SIMO, and MIMO), it would be desirable to use one or more types ofwireless communications to enhance data throughput within a WLAN. Forexample, high data rates can be achieved with MIMO communications incomparison to SISO communications. However, most WLAN include legacywireless communication devices (i.e., devices that are compliant with anolder version of a wireless communication standard). As such, atransmitter capable of MIMO wireless communications should also bebackward compatible with legacy devices to function in a majority ofexisting WLANs.

Therefore, a need exists for a WLAN device that is capable of high datathroughput and is backward compatible with legacy devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a wirelesscommunication system.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a wirelesscommunication device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a radio frequency (RF)transmitter.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of an RF receiver.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method for basebandprocessing of data.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method that furtherdefines Step 120 of FIG. 5.

FIGS. 7-9 are diagrams illustrating various embodiments for encoding thescrambled data.

FIGS. 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating embodiments of a radiotransmitter.

FIGS. 11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating embodiments of a radioreceiver.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of an access point (AP)and multiple wireless local area network (WLAN) devices operatingaccording to one or more various aspects and/or embodiments of theinvention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a wirelesscommunication device, and clusters, as may be employed for supportingcommunications with at least one additional wireless communicationdevice.

FIG. 14 illustrates an embodiment of a number of wireless communicationdevices implemented in various locations in an environment including abuilding or structure.

FIG. 15 illustrates an embodiment of a number of wireless communicationdevices implemented in various locations in a vehicular environment.

FIG. 16 illustrates an embodiment of a number of wireless communicationdevices implemented in various locations throughout a broadlydistributed industrial environment.

FIG. 17 illustrates an embodiment of a wireless communication systemincluding a number of wireless communication devices therein.

FIG. 18 illustrates an alternative embodiment of a wirelesscommunication system including a number of wireless communicationdevices therein.

FIG. 19 illustrates an embodiment of time division multiple access(TDMA) operation, as may be effectuated at a media access control (MAC)layer, within various wireless communication devices.

FIG. 20 illustrates an embodiment of TDMA operation on multiple,respective frequencies, spectra thereof, channels, and/or clusters, asmay be effectuated at a MAC layer, within various wireless communicationdevices.

FIG. 21 illustrates an embodiment of multiple service periods (SPs) foruse in various wireless communication devices within a wirelesscommunication system.

FIG. 22 illustrates an alternative embodiment of multiple SPs for use invarious wireless communication devices within a wireless communicationsystem.

FIG. 23 illustrates an embodiment of TDMA termination for variouswireless communication devices within a wireless communication system.

FIG. 24, FIG. 25, FIG. 26, FIG. 27, and FIG. 28 illustrate variousembodiments of methods performed by one or more communication devices.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a wirelesscommunication system 10 that includes a plurality of base stationsand/or access points 12-16, a plurality of wireless communicationdevices 18-32 and a network hardware component 34. The wirelesscommunication devices 18-32 may be laptop host computers 18 and 26,personal digital assistant hosts 20 and 30, personal computer hosts 24and 32 and/or cellular telephone hosts 22 and 28. The details of anembodiment of such wireless communication devices are described ingreater detail with reference to FIG. 2.

The base stations (BSs) or access points (APs) 12-16 are operablycoupled to the network hardware 34 via local area network connections36, 38 and 40. The network hardware 34, which may be a router, switch,bridge, modem, system controller, etc., provides a wide area networkconnection 42 for the communication system 10. Each of the base stationsor access points 12-16 has an associated antenna or antenna array tocommunicate with the wireless communication devices in its area.Typically, the wireless communication devices register with a particularbase station or access point 12-14 to receive services from thecommunication system 10. For direct connections (i.e., point-to-pointcommunications), wireless communication devices communicate directly viaan allocated channel.

Typically, base stations are used for cellular telephone systems (e.g.,advanced mobile phone services (AMPS), digital AMPS, global system formobile communications (GSM), code division multiple access (CDMA), localmulti-point distribution systems (LMDS), multi-channel-multi-pointdistribution systems (MMDS), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution(EDGE), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), high-speed downlink packetaccess (HSDPA), high-speed uplink packet access (HSUPA and/or variationsthereof) and like-type systems, while access points are used for in-homeor in-building wireless networks (e.g., IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, ZigBee,any other type of radio frequency based network protocol and/orvariations thereof). Regardless of the particular type of communicationsystem, each wireless communication device includes a built-in radioand/or is coupled to a radio. Such wireless communication devices mayoperate in accordance with the various aspects of the invention aspresented herein to enhance performance, reduce costs, reduce size,and/or enhance broadband applications.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a wirelesscommunication device that includes the host device 18-32 and anassociated radio 60. For cellular telephone hosts, the radio 60 is abuilt-in component. For personal digital assistants hosts, laptop hosts,and/or personal computer hosts, the radio 60 may be built-in or anexternally coupled component. For access points or base stations, thecomponents are typically housed in a single structure.

As illustrated, the host device 18-32 includes a processing module 50,memory 52, radio interface 54, input interface 58 and output interface56. The processing module 50 and memory 52 execute the correspondinginstructions that are typically done by the host device. For example,for a cellular telephone host device, the processing module 50 performsthe corresponding communication functions in accordance with aparticular cellular telephone standard.

The radio interface 54 allows data to be received from and sent to theradio 60. For data received from the radio 60 (e.g., inbound data), theradio interface 54 provides the data to the processing module 50 forfurther processing and/or routing to the output interface 56. The outputinterface 56 provides connectivity to an output display device such as adisplay, monitor, speakers, etc. such that the received data may bedisplayed. The radio interface 54 also provides data from the processingmodule 50 to the radio 60. The processing module 50 may receive theoutbound data from an input device such as a keyboard, keypad,microphone, etc. via the input interface 58 or generate the data itself.For data received via the input interface 58, the processing module 50may perform a corresponding host function on the data and/or route it tothe radio 60 via the radio interface 54.

Radio 60 includes a host interface 62, a baseband processing module 64,memory 66, a plurality of radio frequency (RF) transmitters 68-72, atransmit/receive (T/R) module 74, a plurality of antennae 82-86, aplurality of RF receivers 76-80, and a local oscillation module 100. Thebaseband processing module 64, in combination with operationalinstructions stored in memory 66, execute digital receiver functions anddigital transmitter functions, respectively. The digital receiverfunctions, as will be described in greater detail with reference to FIG.11B, include, but are not limited to, digital intermediate frequency tobaseband conversion, demodulation, constellation demapping, decoding,de-interleaving, fast Fourier transform, cyclic prefix removal, spaceand time decoding, and/or descrambling. The digital transmitterfunctions, as will be described in greater detail with reference tolater Figures, include, but are not limited to, scrambling, encoding,interleaving, constellation mapping, modulation, inverse fast Fouriertransform, cyclic prefix addition, space and time encoding, and/ordigital baseband to IF conversion. The baseband processing modules 64may be implemented using one or more processing devices. Such aprocessing device may be a microprocessor, micro-controller, digitalsignal processor, microcomputer, central processing unit, fieldprogrammable gate array, programmable logic device, state machine, logiccircuitry, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device thatmanipulates signals (analog and/or digital) based on operationalinstructions. The memory 66 may be a single memory device or a pluralityof memory devices. Such a memory device may be a read-only memory,random access memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, staticmemory, dynamic memory, flash memory, and/or any device that storesdigital information. Note that when the processing module 64 implementsone or more of its functions via a state machine, analog circuitry,digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry, the memory storing thecorresponding operational instructions is embedded with the circuitrycomprising the state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry,and/or logic circuitry.

In operation, the radio 60 receives outbound data 88 from the hostdevice via the host interface 62. The baseband processing module 64receives the outbound data 88 and, based on a mode selection signal 102,produces one or more outbound symbol streams 90. The mode selectionsignal 102 will indicate a particular mode as are illustrated in themode selection tables, which appear at the end of the detaileddiscussion. For example, the mode selection signal 102, with referenceto table 1 may indicate a frequency band of 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz, a channelbandwidth of 20 or 22 MHz (e.g., channels of 20 or 22 MHz width) and amaximum bit rate of 54 megabits-per-second. In other embodiments, thechannel bandwidth may extend up to 1.28 GHz or wider with supportedmaximum bit rates extending to 1 gigabit-per-second or greater. In thisgeneral category, the mode selection signal will further indicate aparticular rate ranging from 1 megabit-per-second to 54megabits-per-second. In addition, the mode selection signal willindicate a particular type of modulation, which includes, but is notlimited to, Barker Code Modulation, BPSK, QPSK, CCK, 16 QAM and/or 64QAM. As is further illustrated in table 1, a code rate is supplied aswell as number of coded bits per subcarrier (NBPSC), coded bits per OFDMsymbol (NCBPS), data bits per OFDM symbol (NDBPS).

The mode selection signal may also indicate a particular channelizationfor the corresponding mode which for the information in table 1 isillustrated in table 2. As shown, table 2 includes a channel number andcorresponding center frequency. The mode select signal may furtherindicate a power spectral density mask value which for table 1 isillustrated in table 3. The mode select signal may alternativelyindicate rates within table 4 that has a 5 GHz frequency band, 20 MHzchannel bandwidth and a maximum bit rate of 54 megabits-per-second. Ifthis is the particular mode select, the channelization is illustrated intable 5. As a further alternative, the mode select signal 102 mayindicate a 2.4 GHz frequency band, 20 MHz channels and a maximum bitrate of 192 megabits-per-second as illustrated in table 6. In table 6, anumber of antennae may be utilized to achieve the higher bit rates. Inthis instance, the mode select would further indicate the number ofantennae to be utilized. Table 7 illustrates the channelization for theset-up of table 6. Table 8 illustrates yet another mode option where thefrequency band is 2.4 GHz, the channel bandwidth is 20 MHz and themaximum bit rate is 192 megabits-per-second. The corresponding table 8includes various bit rates ranging from 12 megabits-per-second to 216megabits-per-second utilizing 2-4 antennae and a spatial time encodingrate as indicated. Table 9 illustrates the channelization for table 8.The mode select signal 102 may further indicate a particular operatingmode as illustrated in table 10, which corresponds to a 5 GHz frequencyband having 40 MHz frequency band having 40 MHz channels and a maximumbit rate of 486 megabits-per-second. As shown in table 10, the bit ratemay range from 13.5 megabits-per-second to 486 megabits-per-secondutilizing 1-4 antennae and a corresponding spatial time code rate. Table10 further illustrates a particular modulation scheme code rate andNBPSC values. Table 11 provides the power spectral density mask fortable 10 and table 12 provides the channelization for table 10.

It is of course noted that other types of channels, having differentbandwidths, may be employed in other embodiments without departing fromthe scope and spirit of the invention. For example, various otherchannels such as those having 80 MHz, 120 MHz, and/or 160 MHz ofbandwidth may alternatively be employed such as in accordance with IEEETask Group ac (TGac VHTL6).

The baseband processing module 64, based on the mode selection signal102 produces the one or more outbound symbol streams 90, as will befurther described with reference to FIGS. 5-9 from the output data 88.For example, if the mode selection signal 102 indicates that a singletransmit antenna is being utilized for the particular mode that has beenselected, the baseband processing module 64 will produce a singleoutbound symbol stream 90. Alternatively, if the mode select signalindicates 2, 3 or 4 antennae, the baseband processing module 64 willproduce 2, 3 or 4 outbound symbol streams 90 corresponding to the numberof antennae from the output data 88.

Depending on the number of outbound streams 90 produced by the basebandmodule 64, a corresponding number of the RF transmitters 68-72 will beenabled to convert the outbound symbol streams 90 into outbound RFsignals 92. The implementation of the RF transmitters 68-72 will befurther described with reference to FIG. 3. The transmit/receive module74 receives the outbound RF signals 92 and provides each outbound RFsignal to a corresponding antenna 82-86.

When the radio 60 is in the receive mode, the transmit/receive module 74receives one or more inbound RF signals via the antennae 82-86. The T/Rmodule 74 provides the inbound RF signals 94 to one or more RF receivers76-80. The RF receiver 76-80, which will be described in greater detailwith reference to FIG. 4, converts the inbound RF signals 94 into acorresponding number of inbound symbol streams 96. The number of inboundsymbol streams 96 will correspond to the particular mode in which thedata was received (recall that the mode may be any one of the modesillustrated in tables 1-12). The baseband processing module 64 receivesthe inbound symbol streams 90 and converts them into inbound data 98,which is provided to the host device 18-32 via the host interface 62.

In one embodiment of radio 60 it includes a transmitter and a receiver.The transmitter may include a MAC module, a PLCP module, and a PMDmodule. The Medium Access Control (MAC) module, which may be implementedwith the processing module 64, is operably coupled to convert a MACService Data Unit (MSDU) into a MAC Protocol Data Unit (MPDU) inaccordance with a WLAN protocol. The Physical Layer ConvergenceProcedure (PLCP) Module, which may be implemented in the processingmodule 64, is operably coupled to convert the MPDU into a PLCP ProtocolData Unit (PPDU) in accordance with the WLAN protocol. The PhysicalMedium Dependent (PMD) module is operably coupled to convert the PPDUinto a plurality of radio frequency (RF) signals in accordance with oneof a plurality of operating modes of the WLAN protocol, wherein theplurality of operating modes includes multiple input and multiple outputcombinations.

An embodiment of the Physical Medium Dependent (PMD) module, which willbe described in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 10A and 10B,includes an error protection module, a demultiplexing module, and aplurality of direction conversion modules. The error protection module,which may be implemented in the processing module 64, is operablycoupled to restructure a PPDU (PLCP (Physical Layer ConvergenceProcedure) Protocol Data Unit) to reduce transmission errors producingerror protected data. The demultiplexing module is operably coupled todivide the error protected data into a plurality of error protected datastreams. The plurality of direct conversion modules is operably coupledto convert the plurality of error protected data streams into aplurality of radio frequency (RF) signals.

As one of average skill in the art will appreciate, the wirelesscommunication device of FIG. 2 may be implemented using one or moreintegrated circuits. For example, the host device may be implemented onone integrated circuit, the baseband processing module 64 and memory 66may be implemented on a second integrated circuit, and the remainingcomponents of the radio 60, less the antennae 82-86, may be implementedon a third integrated circuit. As an alternate example, the radio 60 maybe implemented on a single integrated circuit. As yet another example,the processing module 50 of the host device and the baseband processingmodule 64 may be a common processing device implemented on a singleintegrated circuit. Further, the memory 52 and memory 66 may beimplemented on a single integrated circuit and/or on the same integratedcircuit as the common processing modules of processing module 50 and thebaseband processing module 64.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a radio frequency (RF)transmitter 68-72, or RF front-end, of the WLAN transmitter. The RFtransmitter 68-72 includes a digital filter and up-sampling module 75, adigital-to-analog conversion module 77, an analog filter 79, andup-conversion module 81, a power amplifier 83 and a RF filter 85. Thedigital filter and up-sampling module 75 receives one of the outboundsymbol streams 90 and digitally filters it and then up-samples the rateof the symbol streams to a desired rate to produce the filtered symbolstreams 87. The digital-to-analog conversion module 77 converts thefiltered symbols 87 into analog signals 89. The analog signals mayinclude an in-phase component and a quadrature component.

The analog filter 79 filters the analog signals 89 to produce filteredanalog signals 91. The up-conversion module 81, which may include a pairof mixers and a filter, mixes the filtered analog signals 91 with alocal oscillation 93, which is produced by local oscillation module 100,to produce high frequency signals 95. The frequency of the highfrequency signals 95 corresponds to the frequency of the outbound RFsignals 92.

The power amplifier 83 amplifies the high frequency signals 95 toproduce amplified high frequency signals 97. The RF filter 85, which maybe a high frequency band-pass filter, filters the amplified highfrequency signals 97 to produce the desired output RF signals 92.

As one of average skill in the art will appreciate, each of the radiofrequency transmitters 68-72 will include a similar architecture asillustrated in FIG. 3 and further include a shut-down mechanism suchthat when the particular radio frequency transmitter is not required, itis disabled in such a manner that it does not produce interferingsignals and/or noise.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of an RF receiver. Thismay depict any one of the RF receivers 76-80. In this embodiment, eachof the RF receivers 76-80 includes an RF filter 101, a low noiseamplifier (LNA) 103, a programmable gain amplifier (PGA) 105, adown-conversion module 107, an analog filter 109, an analog-to-digitalconversion module 111 and a digital filter and down-sampling module 113.The RF filter 101, which may be a high frequency band-pass filter,receives the inbound RF signals 94 and filters them to produce filteredinbound RF signals. The low noise amplifier 103 amplifies the filteredinbound RF signals 94 based on a gain setting and provides the amplifiedsignals to the programmable gain amplifier 105. The programmable gainamplifier further amplifies the inbound RF signals 94 before providingthem to the down-conversion module 107.

The down-conversion module 107 includes a pair of mixers, a summationmodule, and a filter to mix the inbound RF signals with a localoscillation (LO) that is provided by the local oscillation module toproduce analog baseband signals. The analog filter 109 filters theanalog baseband signals and provides them to the analog-to-digitalconversion module 111 which converts them into a digital signal. Thedigital filter and down-sampling module 113 filters the digital signalsand then adjusts the sampling rate to produce the digital samples(corresponding to the inbound symbol streams 96).

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method for basebandprocessing of data. This diagram shows a method for converting outbounddata 88 into one or more outbound symbol streams 90 by the basebandprocessing module 64. The process begins at Step 110 where the basebandprocessing module receives the outbound data 88 and a mode selectionsignal 102. The mode selection signal may indicate any one of thevarious modes of operation as indicated in tables 1-12. The process thenproceeds to Step 112 where the baseband processing module scrambles thedata in accordance with a pseudo random sequence to produce scrambleddata. Note that the pseudo random sequence may be generated from afeedback shift register with the generator polynomial of S(x)=x⁷+x⁴+1.

The process then proceeds to Step 114 where the baseband processingmodule selects one of a plurality of encoding modes based on the modeselection signal. The process then proceeds to Step 116 where thebaseband processing module encodes the scrambled data in accordance witha selected encoding mode to produce encoded data. The encoding may bedone utilizing any one or more a variety of coding schemes (e.g.,convolutional coding, Reed-Solomon (RS) coding, turbo coding, turbotrellis coded modulation (TTCM) coding, LDPC (Low Density Parity Check)coding, etc.).

The process then proceeds to Step 118 where the baseband processingmodule determines a number of transmit streams based on the mode selectsignal. For example, the mode select signal will select a particularmode which indicates that 1, 2, 3, 4 or more antennae may be utilizedfor the transmission. Accordingly, the number of transmit streams willcorrespond to the number of antennae indicated by the mode selectsignal. The process then proceeds to Step 120 where the basebandprocessing module converts the encoded data into streams of symbols inaccordance with the number of transmit streams in the mode selectsignal. This step will be described in greater detail with reference toFIG. 6.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method that furtherdefines Step 120 of FIG. 5. This diagram shows a method performed by thebaseband processing module to convert the encoded data into streams ofsymbols in accordance with the number of transmit streams and the modeselect signal. Such processing begins at Step 122 where the basebandprocessing module interleaves the encoded data over multiple symbols andsubcarriers of a channel to produce interleaved data. In general, theinterleaving process is designed to spread the encoded data overmultiple symbols and transmit streams. This allows improved detectionand error correction capability at the receiver. In one embodiment, theinterleaving process will follow the IEEE 802.11(a) or (g) standard forbackward compatible modes. For higher performance modes (e.g., IEEE802.11(n), the interleaving will also be done over multiple transmitpaths or streams.

The process then proceeds to Step 124 where the baseband processingmodule demultiplexes the interleaved data into a number of parallelstreams of interleaved data. The number of parallel streams correspondsto the number of transmit streams, which in turn corresponds to thenumber of antennae indicated by the particular mode being utilized. Theprocess then continues to Steps 126 and 128, where for each of theparallel streams of interleaved data, the baseband processing modulemaps the interleaved data into a quadrature amplitude modulated (QAM)symbol to produce frequency domain symbols at Step 126. At Step 128, thebaseband processing module converts the frequency domain symbols intotime domain symbols, which may be done utilizing an inverse fast Fouriertransform. The conversion of the frequency domain symbols into the timedomain symbols may further include adding a cyclic prefix to allowremoval of intersymbol interference at the receiver. Note that thelength of the inverse fast Fourier transform and cyclic prefix aredefined in the mode tables of tables 1-12. In general, a 64-pointinverse fast Fourier transform is employed for 20 MHz channels and128-point inverse fast Fourier transform is employed for 40 MHzchannels.

The process then proceeds to Step 130 where the baseband processingmodule space and time encodes the time domain symbols for each of theparallel streams of interleaved data to produce the streams of symbols.In one embodiment, the space and time encoding may be done by space andtime encoding the time domain symbols of the parallel streams ofinterleaved data into a corresponding number of streams of symbolsutilizing an encoding matrix. Alternatively, the space and time encodingmay be done by space and time encoding the time domain symbols ofM-parallel streams of interleaved data into P-streams of symbolsutilizing the encoding matrix, where P=2M. In one embodiment theencoding matrix may comprise a form of:

$\quad\begin{bmatrix}C_{1} & C_{2} & C_{3} & C_{4} & \ldots & C_{{2M} - 1} & C_{2M} \\{- C_{2}^{*}} & C_{1}^{*} & {- C_{4}^{*}} & C_{3}^{*} & \ldots & {- C_{2M}^{*}} & C_{{2M} - 1}\end{bmatrix}$

The number of rows of the encoding matrix corresponds to M and thenumber of columns of the encoding matrix corresponds to P. Theparticular symbol values of the constants within the encoding matrix maybe real or imaginary numbers.

FIGS. 7-9 are diagrams illustrating various embodiments for encoding thescrambled data.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of one method that may be utilized by the basebandprocessing module to encode the scrambled data at Step 116 of FIG. 5. Inthis method, the encoding of FIG. 7 may include an optional Step 144where the baseband processing module may optionally perform encodingwith an outer Reed-Solomon (RS) code to produce RS encoded data. It isnoted that Step 144 may be conducted in parallel with Step 140 describedbelow.

Also, the process continues at Step 140 where the baseband processingmodule performs a convolutional encoding with a 64 state code andgenerator polynomials of G₀=133₈ and G₁=171₈ on the scrambled data (thatmay or may not have undergone RS encoding) to produce convolutionalencoded data. The process then proceeds to Step 142 where the basebandprocessing module punctures the convolutional encoded data at one of aplurality of rates in accordance with the mode selection signal toproduce the encoded data. Note that the puncture rates may include ½, ⅔and/or ¾, or any rate as specified in tables 1-12. Note that, for aparticular mode, the rate may be selected for backward compatibilitywith IEEE 802.11(a), IEEE 802.11(g), or IEEE 802.11(n) raterequirements.

FIG. 8 is a diagram of another encoding method that may be utilized bythe baseband processing module to encode the scrambled data at Step 116of FIG. 5. In this embodiment, the encoding of FIG. 8 may include anoptional Step 148 where the baseband processing module may optionallyperform encoding with an outer RS code to produce RS encoded data. It isnoted that Step 148 may be conducted in parallel with Step 146 describedbelow.

The method then continues at Step 146 where the baseband processingmodule encodes the scrambled data (that may or may not have undergone RSencoding) in accordance with a complimentary code keying (CCK) code toproduce the encoded data. This may be done in accordance with IEEE802.11(b) specifications, IEEE 802.11(g), and/or IEEE 802.11(n)specifications.

FIG. 9 is a diagram of yet another method for encoding the scrambleddata at Step 116, which may be performed by the baseband processingmodule. In this embodiment, the encoding of FIG. 9 may include anoptional Step 154 where the baseband processing module may optionallyperform encoding with an outer RS code to produce RS encoded data.

Then, in some embodiments, the process continues at Step 150 where thebaseband processing module performs LDPC (Low Density Parity Check)coding on the scrambled data (that may or may not have undergone RSencoding) to produce LDPC coded bits. Alternatively, the Step 150 mayoperate by performing convolutional encoding with a 256 state code andgenerator polynomials of G₀=561₈ and G₁=753₈ on the scrambled data thescrambled data (that may or may not have undergone RS encoding) toproduce convolutional encoded data. The process then proceeds to Step152 where the baseband processing module punctures the convolutionalencoded data at one of the plurality of rates in accordance with a modeselection signal to produce encoded data. Note that the puncture rate isindicated in the tables 1-12 for the corresponding mode.

The encoding of FIG. 9 may further include the optional Step 154 wherethe baseband processing module combines the convolutional encoding withan outer Reed Solomon code to produce the convolutional encoded data.

FIGS. 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating embodiments of a radiotransmitter. This may involve the PMD module of a WLAN transmitter. InFIG. 10A, the baseband processing is shown to include a scrambler 172,channel encoder 174, interleaver 176, demultiplexer 170, a plurality ofsymbol mappers 180-184, a plurality of inverse fast Fourier transform(IFFT)/cyclic prefix addition modules 186-190 and a space/time encoder192. The baseband portion of the transmitter may further include a modemanager module 175 that receives the mode selection signal 173 andproduces settings 179 for the radio transmitter portion and produces therate selection 171 for the baseband portion. In this embodiment, thescrambler 172, the channel encoder 174, and the interleaver 176 comprisean error protection module. The symbol mappers 180-184, the plurality ofIFFT/cyclic prefix modules 186-190, the space time encoder 192 comprisea portion of the digital baseband processing module.

In operations, the scrambler 172 adds (e.g., in a Galois Finite Field(GF2)) a pseudo random sequence to the outbound data bits 88 to make thedata appear random. A pseudo random sequence may be generated from afeedback shift register with the generator polynomial of S(x)=x⁷+x⁴+1 toproduce scrambled data. The channel encoder 174 receives the scrambleddata and generates a new sequence of bits with redundancy. This willenable improved detection at the receiver. The channel encoder 174 mayoperate in one of a plurality of modes. For example, for backwardcompatibility with IEEE 802.11(a) and IEEE 802.11(g), the channelencoder has the form of a rate 1/2 convolutional encoder with 64 statesand a generator polynomials of G₀=133₈ and G₁=171₈. The output of theconvolutional encoder may be punctured to rates of ½, ⅔, and ¾ accordingto the specified rate tables (e.g., tables 1-12). For backwardcompatibility with IEEE 802.11(b) and the CCK modes of IEEE 802.11(g),the channel encoder has the form of a CCK code as defined in IEEE802.11(b). For higher data rates (such as those illustrated in tables 6,8 and 10), the channel encoder may use the same convolution encoding asdescribed above or it may use a more powerful code, including aconvolutional code with more states, any one or more of the varioustypes of error correction codes (ECCs) mentioned above (e.g., RS, LDPC,turbo, TTCM, etc.) a parallel concatenated (turbo) code and/or a lowdensity parity check (LDPC) block code. Further, any one of these codesmay be combined with an outer Reed Solomon code. Based on a balancing ofperformance, backward compatibility and low latency, one or more ofthese codes may be optimal. Note that the concatenated turbo encodingand low density parity check will be described in greater detail withreference to subsequent Figures.

The interleaver 176 receives the encoded data and spreads it overmultiple symbols and transmit streams. This allows improved detectionand error correction capabilities at the receiver. In one embodiment,the interleaver 176 will follow the IEEE 802.11(a) or (g) standard inthe backward compatible modes. For higher performance modes (e.g., suchas those illustrated in tables 6, 8 and 10), the interleaver willinterleave data over multiple transmit streams. The demultiplexer 170converts the serial interleave stream from interleaver 176 intoM-parallel streams for transmission.

Each symbol mapper 180-184 receives a corresponding one of theM-parallel paths of data from the demultiplexer. Each symbol mapper180-182 lock maps bit streams to quadrature amplitude modulated QAMsymbols (e.g., BPSK, QPSK, 16 QAM, 64 QAM, 256 QAM, etc.) according tothe rate tables (e.g., tables 1-12). For IEEE 802.11(a) backwardcompatibility, double Gray coding may be used.

The map symbols produced by each of the symbol mappers 180-184 areprovided to the IFFT/cyclic prefix addition modules 186-190, whichperforms frequency domain to time domain conversions and adds a prefix,which allows removal of inter-symbol interference at the receiver. Notethat the length of the IFFT and cyclic prefix are defined in the modetables of tables 1-12. In general, a 64-point IFFT will be used for 20MHz channels and 128-point IFFT will be used for 40 MHz channels.

The space/time encoder 192 receives the M-parallel paths of time domainsymbols and converts them into P-output symbols. In one embodiment, thenumber of M-input paths will equal the number of P-output paths. Inanother embodiment, the number of output paths P will equal 2M paths.For each of the paths, the space/time encoder multiples the inputsymbols with an encoding matrix that has the form of

$\quad{\begin{bmatrix}C_{1} & C_{2} & C_{3} & C_{4} & \ldots & C_{{2M} - 1} & C_{2M} \\{- C_{2}^{*}} & C_{1}^{*} & {- C_{4}^{*}} & C_{3}^{*} & \ldots & {- C_{2M}^{*}} & C_{{2M} - 1}\end{bmatrix}.}$

The rows of the encoding matrix correspond to the number of input pathsand the columns correspond to the number of output paths.

FIG. 10B illustrates the radio portion of the transmitter that includesa plurality of digital filter/up-sampling modules 194-198,digital-to-analog conversion modules 200-204, analog filters 206-216,I/Q modulators 218-222, RF amplifiers 224-228, RF filters 230-234 andantennae 236-240. The P-outputs from the space/time encoder 192 arereceived by respective digital filtering/up-sampling modules 194-198. Inone embodiment, the digital filters/up sampling modules 194-198 are partof the digital baseband processing module and the remaining componentscomprise the plurality of RF front-ends. In such an embodiment, thedigital baseband processing module and the RF front end comprise adirect conversion module.

In operation, the number of radio paths that are active correspond tothe number of P-outputs. For example, if only one P-output path isgenerated, only one of the radio transmitter paths will be active. Asone of average skill in the art will appreciate, the number of outputpaths may range from one to any desired number.

The digital filtering/up-sampling modules 194-198 filter thecorresponding symbols and adjust the sampling rates to correspond withthe desired sampling rates of the digital-to-analog conversion modules200-204. The digital-to-analog conversion modules 200-204 convert thedigital filtered and up-sampled signals into corresponding in-phase andquadrature analog signals. The analog filters 206-214 filter thecorresponding in-phase and/or quadrature components of the analogsignals, and provide the filtered signals to the corresponding I/Qmodulators 218-222. The I/Q modulators 218-222 based on a localoscillation, which is produced by a local oscillator 100, up-convertsthe I/Q signals into radio frequency signals.

The RF amplifiers 224-228 amplify the RF signals which are thensubsequently filtered via RF filters 230-234 before being transmittedvia antennae 236-240.

FIGS. 11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating embodiments of a radioreceiver (as shown by reference numeral 250). These diagrams illustratea schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a receiver. FIG. 11Aillustrates the analog portion of the receiver which includes aplurality of receiver paths. Each receiver path includes an antenna, RFfilters 252-256, low noise amplifiers 258-262, I/Q demodulators 264-268,analog filters 270-280, analog-to-digital converters 282-286 and digitalfilters and down-sampling modules 288-290.

In operation, the antennae receive inbound RF signals, which areband-pass filtered via the RF filters 252-256. The corresponding lownoise amplifiers 258-262 amplify the filtered signals and provide themto the corresponding I/Q demodulators 264-268. The I/Q demodulators264-268, based on a local oscillation, which is produced by localoscillator 100, down-converts the RF signals into baseband in-phase andquadrature analog signals.

The corresponding analog filters 270-280 filter the in-phase andquadrature analog components, respectively. The analog-to-digitalconverters 282-286 convert the in-phase and quadrature analog signalsinto a digital signal. The digital filtering and down-sampling modules288-290 filter the digital signals and adjust the sampling rate tocorrespond to the rate of the baseband processing, which will bedescribed in FIG. 11B.

FIG. 11B illustrates the baseband processing of a receiver. The basebandprocessing includes a space/time decoder 294, a plurality of fastFourier transform (FFT)/cyclic prefix removal modules 296-300, aplurality of symbol demapping modules 302-306, a multiplexer 308, adeinterleaver 310, a channel decoder 312, and a descramble module 314.The baseband processing module may further include a mode managingmodule 175, which produces rate selections 171 and settings 179 based onmode selections 173. The space/time decoding module 294, which performsthe inverse function of space/time encoder 192, receives P-inputs fromthe receiver paths and produce M-output paths. The M-output paths areprocessed via the FFT/cyclic prefix removal modules 296-300 whichperform the inverse function of the IFFT/cyclic prefix addition modules186-190 to produce frequency domain symbols.

The symbol demapping modules 302-306 convert the frequency domainsymbols into data utilizing an inverse process of the symbol mappers180-184. The multiplexer 308 combines the demapped symbol streams into asingle path.

The deinterleaver 310 deinterleaves the single path utilizing an inversefunction of the function performed by interleaver 176. The deinterleaveddata is then provided to the channel decoder 312 which performs theinverse function of channel encoder 174. The descrambler 314 receivesthe decoded data and performs the inverse function of scrambler 172 toproduce the inbound data 98.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of an access point (AP)and multiple wireless local area network (WLAN) devices operatingaccording to one or more various aspects and/or embodiments of theinvention. The AP point 1200 may compatible with any number ofcommunication protocols and/or standards, e.g., IEEE 802.11(a), IEEE802.11(b), IEEE 802.11(g), IEEE 802.11(n), as well as in accordance withvarious aspects of invention. According to certain aspects of thepresent invention, the AP supports backwards compatibility with priorversions of the IEEE 802.11x standards as well. According to otheraspects of the present invention, the AP 1200 supports communicationswith the WLAN devices 1202, 1204, and 1206 with channel bandwidths, MIMOdimensions, and at data throughput rates unsupported by the prior IEEE802.11x operating standards. For example, the access point 1200 and WLANdevices 1202, 1204, and 1206 may support channel bandwidths from thoseof prior version devices and from 40 MHz to 1.28 GHz and above. Theaccess point 1200 and WLAN devices 1202, 1204, and 1206 support MIMOdimensions to 4×4 and greater. With these characteristics, the accesspoint 1200 and WLAN devices 1202, 1204, and 1206 may support datathroughput rates to 1 GHz and above.

The AP 1200 supports simultaneous communications with more than one ofthe WLAN devices 1202, 1204, and 1206. Simultaneous communications maybe serviced via OFDM tone allocations (e.g., certain number of OFDMtones in a given cluster), MIMO dimension multiplexing, or via othertechniques. With some simultaneous communications, the AP 1200 mayallocate one or more of the multiple antennae thereof respectively tosupport communication with each WLAN device 1202, 1204, and 1206, forexample.

Further, the AP 1200 and WLAN devices 1202, 1204, and 1206 are backwardscompatible with the IEEE 802.11 (a), (b), (g), and (n) operatingstandards. In supporting such backwards compatibility, these devicessupport signal formats and structures that are consistent with theseprior operating standards.

Generally, communications as described herein may be targeted forreception by a single receiver or for multiple individual receivers(e.g. via multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO), and/orOFDMA transmissions, which are different than single transmissions witha multi-receiver address). For example, a single OFDMA transmission usesdifferent tones or sets of tones (e.g., clusters or channels) to senddistinct sets of information, each set of set of information transmittedto one or more receivers simultaneously in the time domain. Again, anOFDMA transmission sent to one user is equivalent to an OFDMtransmission (e.g., OFDM may be viewed as being a subset of OFDMA). Asingle MU-MIMO transmission may include spatially-diverse signals over acommon set of tones, each containing distinct information and eachtransmitted to one or more distinct receivers. Some single transmissionsmay be a combination of OFDMA and MU-MIMO. Multi-user (MU), as describedherein, may be viewed as being multiple users sharing at least onecluster (e.g., at least one channel within at least one band) at a sametime.

MIMO transceivers illustrated may include SISO, SIMO, and MISOtransceivers. The clusters employed for such communications (e.g., OFDMAcommunications) may be continuous (e.g., adjacent to one another) ordiscontinuous (e.g., separated by a guard interval of band gap).Transmissions on different OFDMA clusters may be simultaneous ornon-simultaneous. Such wireless communication devices as describedherein may be capable of supporting communications via a single clusteror any combination thereof. Legacy users and new version users (e.g.,TGac MU-MIMO, OFDMA, MU-MIMO/OFDMA, etc.) may share bandwidth at a giventime or they can be scheduled at different times for certainembodiments. Such a MU-MIMO/OFDMA transmitter (e.g., an AP or a STA) maytransmit packets to more than one receiving wireless communicationdevice (e.g., STA) on the same cluster (e.g., at least one channelwithin at least one band) in a single aggregated packet (such as beingtime multiplexed). In such an instance, channel training may be requiredfor all communication links to the respective receiving wirelesscommunication devices (e.g., STAs).

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a wirelesscommunication device, and clusters, as may be employed for supportingcommunications with at least one additional wireless communicationdevice. Generally speaking, a cluster may be viewed as a depiction ofthe mapping of tones, such as for an OFDM symbol, within or among one ormore channels (e.g., sub-divided portions of the spectrum) that may besituated in one or more bands (e.g., portions of the spectrum separatedby relatively larger amounts). As an example, various channels of 20 MHzmay be situated within or centered around a 5 GHz band. The channelswithin any such band may be continuous (e.g., adjacent to one another)or discontinuous (e.g., separated by some guard interval or band gap).Oftentimes, one or more channels may be situated within a given band,and different bands need not necessarily have a same number of channelstherein. Again, a cluster may generally be understood as any combinationone or more channels among one or more bands.

The wireless communication device of this diagram may be of any of thevarious types and/or equivalents described herein (e.g., AP, WLANdevice, or other wireless communication device including, though notlimited to, any of those depicted in FIG. 1, etc.). The wirelesscommunication device includes multiple antennae from which one or moresignals may be transmitted to one or more receiving wirelesscommunication devices and/or received from one or more other wirelesscommunication devices.

Such clusters may be used for transmissions of signals via various oneor more selected antennae. For example, different clusters are shown asbeing used to transmit signals respectively using different one or moreantennae.

Also, it is noted that, with respect to certain embodiments, generalnomenclature may be employed wherein a transmitting wirelesscommunication device (e.g., such as being an Access point (AP), or awireless station (STA) operating as an ‘AP’ with respect to other STAs)initiates communications, and/or operates as a network controller typeof wireless communication device, with respect to a number of other,receiving wireless communication devices (e.g., such as being STAs), andthe receiving wireless communication devices (e.g., such as being STAs)responding to and cooperating with the transmitting wirelesscommunication device in supporting such communications. Of course, whilethis general nomenclature of transmitting wireless communicationdevice(s) and receiving wireless communication device(s) may be employedto differentiate the operations as performed by such different wirelesscommunication devices within a communication system, all such wirelesscommunication devices within such a communication system may of coursesupport bi-directional communications to and from other wirelesscommunication devices within the communication system. In other words,the various types of transmitting wireless communication device(s) andreceiving wireless communication device(s) may all supportbi-directional communications to and from other wireless communicationdevices within the communication system. Generally speaking, suchcapability, functionality, operations, etc. as described herein may beapplied to any wireless communication device.

Various aspects and principles, and their equivalents, of the inventionas presented herein may be adapted for use in various standards,protocols, and/or recommended practices (including those currently underdevelopment) such as those in accordance with IEEE 802.11x (e.g., wherex is a, b, g, n, ac, ad, ae, af, ah, etc.).

In certain instances, various wireless communication devices may beimplemented to support communications associated with monitoring and/orsensing of any of a variety of different conditions, parameters, etc.and provide such information to another wireless communication device.For example, in some instances, a wireless communication device may beimplemented as a smart meter station (SMSTA), having certaincharacteristics similar to a wireless station (STA) such as in thecontext of a wireless local area network (WLAN), yet is operative toperform such communications associated with one or more measurements inaccordance with monitoring and/or sensing. In certain applications, suchdevices may operate only very rarely. For example, when compared to theperiods of time in which such a device is in power savings mode (e.g., asleep mode, a reduced functionality operational mode a lowered poweroperational mode, etc.), the operational periods of time may beminiscule in comparison (e.g., only a few percentage or tenths,hundredths [or even smaller portion(s)] of percentage of the periods oftime in which the device is in such a power savings mode, or even less).

For example, such a device may awaken from such a power savings modeonly to perform certain operations. For example, such a device mayawaken from such a power savings mode to perform sensing and/ormeasurement of one or more parameters, conditions, constraints, etc.During such an operational period (e.g., in which the device is not in apower savings mode), the device may also perform transmission of suchinformation to another wireless communication device (e.g., an accesspoint (AP), another SMSTA, a wireless station (STA), or such an SMSTA orSTA operating as an AP, etc.). It is noted that such a device may enterinto an operational mode for performing sensing and/or monitoring at afrequency that is different than (e.g., greater than) the frequency atwhich the device enters into an operational mode for performingtransmissions. For example, such a device may awaken a certain number oftimes to make successive respective sensing and/or monitoringoperations, and such data as is acquired during those operations may bestored (e.g., in a memory storage component within the device), andduring a subsequent operational mode dedicated for transmission of thedata, multiple data portions corresponding to multiple respectivesensing and/or monitoring operations may be transmitted during thatoperational mode dedicated for transmission of the data.

Also, it is noted that, in certain embodiments, such a device mayinclude both monitor and/or sensor capability as well as wirelesscommunication capability. In other embodiments, such a device may beconnected and/or coupled to a monitor and/or sensor and serve toeffectuate wireless communications related to the monitoring and/orsensing operations of the monitor and/or sensor.

The application contexts of such devices may be varied, and someexemplary though non-exhaustive embodiments are provided and describedbelow for illustrations to the reader. It is also noted that, in someapplications, some of the devices may be battery operated in whichenergy conservation and efficiency may be of high importance. Inaddition, there are a number of applications in which such devices maybe used in addition to or alternatively to smart meter applications; forexample, certain wireless communication devices may be implemented tosupport cellular offload and/or other applications that are not normallyor traditionally associated with WLAN applications. Some applicationsare particularly targeted and directed towards use in accordance withand in compliance with the currently developing IEEE 802.11ah standard.

Various mechanisms by which access to the communication media may beachieved may be different and particularly tailored for differentcontexts. For example, different communication access schemes may beapplied at different respective times. That is to say, during a firsttime or during a first time period, a first communication medium accessapproach may be employed. During a second time or during a second timeperiod, a second communication medium access approach may be employed.It is noted that the particular communication medium access approachemployed any given time may be adaptively determined based upon one ormore prior communication medium access approaches employed during one ormore time periods.

Also, in an application in which there are multiple wirelesscommunication devices implemented therein, different respective timeperiods may be employed for different groups of those wirelesscommunication devices. For example, considering an embodiment in whichmultiple STAs are operative within a given communication device, thoserespective STAs may be subdivided into different respective groups thatmay have access to the communication medium a different respective timeperiods. It is noted that anyone given STA may be categorized withinmore than one group, in that, different respective groups of STAs mayhave some overlap in their respective contents. By using differentrespective time periods for use by different respective groups ofdevices, an increase in media access control (MAC) efficiency may beachieved among anyone or more of the respective devices within thewireless communication system. Also, by ensuring appropriate operationof the overall system, power consumption may be decreased. As mentionedabove, this can be of utmost importance in certain applications such asthose in which one or more of the devices are battery operated andenergy conservation is of high importance. Also, utilizing differentrespective time periods for use by different groups of STAs can allowfor simplification in accordance with MAC or physical layer (PHY)processing. For example, certain embodiments may employ limited preambleprocessing (e.g., such as in accordance with processing only a subsetof, for example, a set of preambles used for normal range and/orextended range type communications) for simplification. In addition, theMAC protocol employed for certain respective time periods can besimplified.

It is noted that the in accordance with various aspects, and theirequivalents, of the invention described herein may be generally appliedto wireless communication devices including any number of types ofwireless communication devices (e.g., STAs, APs, SMSTAs, and/or anycombination thereof, etc.), certain desired embodiments are particularlytailored towards use with one or more SMSTAs.

FIG. 14 illustrates an embodiment 1400 of a number of wirelesscommunication devices implemented in various locations in an environmentincluding a building or structure. In this diagram, multiple respectivewireless communication devices are implemented to forward informationrelated to monitoring and/or sensing to one particular wirelesscommunication device that may be operating as a manager, coordinator,etc. such as may be implemented by an access point (AP) or a wirelessstation (STA) operating as an AP, or to a device which is reachableafter forwarding to the AP (e.g., such as a middling communicationdevice). Generally speaking, such wireless communication devices may beimplemented to perform any of a number of data forwarding, monitoringand/or sensing operations. For example, in the context of a building orstructure, there may be a number of services that are provided to thatbuilding or structure, including natural gas service, heating ventingand air conditioning (HVAC), electrical service, security service,personnel monitoring service, asset monitoring service, televisionservice, Internet service, and/or any other such service(s), etc.Alternatively, different respective monitors and/or sensors may beimplemented throughout the environment to perform monitoring and/orsensing related to parameters not specifically related to services. Assome examples, motion detection, temperature measurement (and/or otheratmospheric and/or environmental measurements), etc. may be performed bydifferent respective monitors and/or sensors implemented in variouslocations and for various purposes.

Different respective monitors and/or sensors may be implemented toprovide information related to such monitoring and/or sensing functionswirelessly to the manager/coordinator wireless communication device.Such information may be provided continuously, periodically,sporadically, intermittently, etc. as may be desired in certainapplications.

In addition, it is noted that such communications between such amanager/coordinator wireless communication device of the differentrespective monitors and/or sensors may be cooperative in accordance withsuch bidirectional indications, in that, the manager/coordinatorwireless communication device may direct the respective monitors and/orsensors to perform certain related functions at subsequent times.

FIG. 15 illustrates an embodiment 1500 of a number of wirelesscommunication devices implemented in various locations in a vehicularenvironment. This diagram pictorially depicts a number of differentsensors implemented throughout a vehicle which may perform any of anumber of monitoring and/or sensing functions. For example, operationalcharacteristics associated with different mechanical components (e.g.,temperature, operating condition, etc. of any of a number of componentswithin the vehicle, such as the engine, compressors, pumps, batteries,etc.) may all be monitored and information related to that monitoringmay be provided to a coordinator/manager wireless communication device.

FIG. 16 illustrates an embodiment 1600 of a number of wirelesscommunication devices implemented in various locations throughout abroadly distributed industrial environment. This diagram pictoriallyillustrates a number of different respective sensors that may beimplemented in various locations that are very remote with respect toone another. This diagram relates to a number of sensors which may beimplemented within different locations that have little or no wirelesscommunication infrastructure associated therewith. For example, in theoil industry, different respective pumps may be implemented in veryremote locations, and service personnel need physically to visit thedifferent respective locations to ascertain the operation of the variousequipment and components there. A manager/coordinator wirelesscommunication device may be implemented within a vehicle, or within aportable component such as laptop computer included within the vehicle,and as the vehicle travels to each respective location in which thereare such sensing and/or monitoring devices. As the manager/coordinatorwireless communication device enters within sufficient proximity suchthat wireless communication may be supported with the differentrespective sensing and/or monitoring devices, information related tosuch monitoring and/or sensing functions may be provided to themanager/ordinate wireless communication device.

While various respective and exemplary embodiments have been providedhere for illustration to the reader, it is noted that such applicationsare non-exhaustive and that any of a variety of application contexts maybe implemented such that one or more wireless communication devices areimplemented throughout an area such that those one or more wirelesscommunication devices may only occasionally provide information to amanager/ordinate wireless communication device. Any such application orcommunication system may operate in accordance with the in accordancewith various aspects, and their equivalents, of the invention.

FIG. 17 illustrates an embodiment 1700 of a wireless communicationsystem including a number of wireless communication devices therein. Asmay be seen with respect to this diagram, one of the wirelesscommunication devices (e.g., an AP, a STA operating as an AP, amanager/coordinator wireless communication device) operates by providinga service period (SP) announcement and/or assignment frame to otherwireless communication devices within the wireless communication system.The time period in which the different respective wireless communicationdevices are provided access to the communication medium is divided intodifferent respective and separate SPs. A given wireless communicationdevice may only effectuate communication medium access during an SP inwhich it is authorized to do so.

FIG. 18 illustrates an alternative embodiment 1800 of a wirelesscommunication system including a number of wireless communicationdevices therein. It is also noted that the different respective wirelesscommunication devices may be subdivided into a number of specificclasses or groups that are permitted to transmit only during specificSPs. For example, there may be a first group of wireless communicationdevices (e.g., SMSTAs) that is permitted to transmit during a first SP,and a second group of wireless communication devices (e.g., STAs thatare not specifically SMSTAs) is permitted to transmit during a secondSP, etc.

A given wireless communication device of a particular class that is notgiven explicit permission to transmit within a specific SP is notallowed to transmit during that SP. However, it is noted that the one ofthe wireless communication devices (e.g., an AP, a STA operating as anAP, a manager/coordinator wireless communication device) may providecertain exceptions for one or more of the respective wirelesscommunication devices. For example, an exception announcement may betransmitted from that one of the wireless communication devices to otherof the wireless communication devices.

In accordance with such classification and/or grouping of the differentrespective wireless communication devices, it is noted that certainclasses and/or groups may be assigned to more than one specific SP. Forexample, wireless communication devices of a given class and/or groupmay be permitted to perform transmission during multiple respective SPs.Also, more than one class and/or group may be assigned to any given SP,such that wireless communication devices associated with a firstclass/group as well as wireless communication devices associated with asecond class/group may all be permitted to perform transmission during agiven SP.

A special SP may be created for beacon transmission from the one of thewireless communication devices (e.g., an AP, a STA operating as an AP, amanager/coordinator wireless communication device) to the other wirelesscommunication devices. For example, such a beacon transmission SP may beprovided to ensure that there is no permission for any class of otherwireless communication devices to operate during a given one or moretime periods. Alternatively, the one of the wireless communicationdevices (e.g., an AP, a STA operating as an AP, a manager/coordinatorwireless communication device) may also allow some classes and/or groupsto operate within the time period associated with the beacontransmission related SP.

As the reader will understand, given that a number of differentrespective wireless communication devices are all operative within awireless communication system and may not all be temporally synchronizedto the same clock, there may be some differentiation with respect to thetiming and clock accuracy within the different respective wirelesscommunication devices. As such, the one of the wireless communicationdevices (e.g., an AP, a STA operating as an AP, a manager/coordinatorwireless communication device) will serve as the reference by which SPtiming is effectuated among the respective wireless communicationdevices. That is to say, each of the other respective wirelesscommunication devices will maintain a local clock that is synchronizedto the reference clock within or maintained by the one of the wirelesscommunication devices (e.g., an AP, a STA operating as an AP, amanager/coordinator wireless communication device), such as inaccordance with the timing synchronization function (TSF) as specifiedin accordance with IEEE 802.11 WLAN operation, or in accordance withsome other clock having an acceptable (usually high) accuracy. However,it is also noted that certain of the wireless communication devices maybe exempt from maintaining synchronization to this main/master clockwithin or maintained by the one of the wireless communication devices(e.g., an AP, a STA operating as an AP, a manager/coordinator wirelesscommunication device). For example, certain of the wirelesscommunication devices may enter into relatively long periods of sleep,and such operation may prevent the respective ability to maintainsynchronization with this main/master clock.

FIG. 19 illustrates an embodiment 1900 of time division multiple access(TDMA) operation, as may be effectuated at a media access control (MAC)layer, within various wireless communication devices. This diagrampictorially shows, as a function of time, how different respectivewireless communication devices are provided access to the communicationmedium. Any of a number of different schedules may be employed toprovide for access by the various wireless communication devices (e.g.,as shown by various respective TDMA options shown at the top andmiddle/bottom of the diagram as separated by the ellipsis). It is notedthat the respective time periods in which the wireless communicationdevices are provided access to the communication medium need not beuniform in length. Different respective time periods of differentrespective durations may be provided for different respective wirelesscommunication devices.

Referring to the diagram, it may be seen that those wirelesscommunication devices having the characteristic associated with type “a”are provided the opportunity to have access to the communication systemduring those respective hashed portions (lines extending from lower leftto upper right) along the respective time axis, those wirelesscommunication devices having the characteristic associated with type “b”are provided the opportunity to have access to the communication systemduring those respective hashed portions (lines extending from upper leftto lower right) along the respective time axis, and those wirelesscommunication devices having the characteristic associated with type “c”are provided the opportunity to have access to the communication systemduring those respective hashed portions (lines extending both verticallyand horizontally) along the respective time axis.

In other words, different respective service periods (SPs) are providedso that wireless communication devices associated with different classesand/or groups may be provided access to the communication medium duringthose respective times.

FIG. 20 illustrates an embodiment 2000 of TDMA operation on multiple,respective frequencies, spectra thereof, channels, and/or clusters, asmay be effectuated at a MAC layer, within various wireless communicationdevices. This diagram has some similarities to the previous embodiment1900 and FIG. 19, with at least one difference being that frequencydiversity is also employed in conjunction with temporal diversity. Thatis to say, TDMA signaling may be effectuated on a number of differentrespective channels (and/or clusters, etc.).

In accordance with such operations and principles as described herein,it is noted that there may be one or more respective dedicated SPs thatare used for a given class/group of wireless communication devices. Forexample, a new STA may associate or disassociate during certain of theSPs. As one example, an AP may specify which of the SPs can be used fora new STA to send an association requests. Such information may beprovided from the AP within a beacon or some other type of frame, suchas a probe response frame, or a management frame.

Also, during some SPs, a different preamble may be used. For example, toreduce implementation complexity, different classes of preambles may beemployed such as may be employed in accordance with the currentlydeveloping IEEE 802.11ah standard in which a first type of preamble maybe employed in accordance with normal range operations while a secondtype of preamble may be employed in accordance with extended rangeoperations. In such communication system applications in which more thanone preamble is employed, having a separate and respective SP foroperation using only one of those types of preambles may serve to allowSTAs to be implemented and operative in accordance with only one ofthose types of preambles. For example, provided that an STA is allowedto operate only during one or more specific SPs, then such an STA neednot necessarily have capability to accommodate multiple respectivepreamble types.

Also, in an effort to save time, extra preamble processing may beavoided on those relatively low power STAs when possible. For example,one type of preamble may be relatively shorter than another type ofpreamble, and avoiding operation on a relatively longer type of preamblemay save time, energy, etc. Also, in an effort to save overhead, arelatively longer preamble type may be avoided when needed. For example,in the situation that one type of preamble may be relatively shorterthan another type of preamble, operation that would require all of theSTAs to use a shorter type of preamble during specific SPs couldpotentially increase efficiency of operation in those respective SPs.For example, in operation in communication systems in which certain ofthe wireless communication devices may be operative in accordance withIEEE 802.11n and/or IEEE 802.11ac, such as in accordance with mixed modeoperation such that some of the wireless communication devices areoperative in accordance with one standard, other of the wirelesscommunication devices are operative in accordance with the otherstandard, and certain of the wireless communication devices may beoperative in accordance with both of the standards, such a mixed modepreamble may be relatively longer than a Greenfield preamble, andoverhead associated with the preamble may be reduced.

Moreover, with respect to certain applications that may require littleand/or no latency (e.g., such as those related to voice, video, and/orother real-time interactive communications), the latency associated forsuch traffic may be implemented to be less than some particularthreshold (e.g., less than T milliseconds). Providing specific TDMA SPsmay be used to help minimize such latency and reduce jitter within suchapplications. For example, voice traffic may be provided with its ownrespective SP because it has the strictest latency requirements inaccordance with such a real-time, bidirectional, and interactivecommunication application. Voice traffic need not be constrained to asingle type of SP, however. For example, if the aggregated duration ofnon-voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) SPs would be more than somepredefined threshold, then voice traffic can be assigned to one or moreadditional SPs. Such operations and considerations may also be performedwith respect to video applications as well.

For example, an AP may allow for transmissions associated with voice,video, etc. in any given SP as desired or that may be acceptable forsuch voice, video, etc. applications. During those respective SPs thatcan be used for voice, video, etc. applications, the voice, video, etc.content therein may be given priority over other traffic in the SP if itis deemed necessary. For example, because of the inherently aggressivelatency requirements associated with voice, video, etc. applications,content respectively associated therewith may be given priority overother types of content.

With respect to synchronization of SPs, it is noted that the timingsynchronization function (TSF) as specified in accordance with IEEE802.11 WLAN operation, or in accordance with some other clock having anacceptable (usually high) accuracy, may be used as a reference tospecify the beginning of each respective SP. As the reader willunderstand, with respect to highly diverse wireless communicationssystems in which a number of different wireless communication devicesare implemented therein, including some of those that may be batteryoperated, have relatively inaccurate clocks, and/or some otheroperational limitations, synchronization may be challenging. Moreover,with respect to certain of the wireless communication devices that mayenter into relatively long sleep periods, synchronization may also bechallenging, in that, upon entering into an awakening from differentrespective sleep periods, there may be inaccuracy incurred or introducedwith the internal timing and clocks therein.

As may be understood within such applications, some of the wirelesscommunication devices may go to sleep for a relatively long period oftime after having been awake and operational. As such, those respectivewireless communication devices may not necessarily receive a beacon fora relatively long period of time. The TSF may not be an adequate,acceptable, or valid reference for certain of the SPs if the TSF has notbeen synchronized for a relatively long period of time (e.g., Ysecond(s)). As such, for those wireless communication devices in whichtiming and/or synchronization may be or potentially may be problematic,such as low power (LP) STAs, the TSF may be integrated and/or includedwithin communications such as data exchanges between an AP and thoserespective STAs that may wake up relatively less frequently to receivebeacons for the purpose of synchronizing their respective internaltimers. That is to say, certain information such as TSF may bepiggy-backed onto or included within communications to those respectivewireless communication devices. Also, some of the LP STAs may contendfor communication medium access during other SPs. For example, a givenwireless communication device's respective TSF timer may be off by morethan a certain amount (e.g., such as a threshold, such as more than Nmsec after sleeping for S seconds). In addition, if desired within aparticular embodiment, such LP STAs may be allowed to contend for accessto the communication medium at all times, instead of within the boundsof any specific SP or SPs, as such LP STAs may not be able readily todiscern the respective boundaries of the SPs for any of a number ofreasons including a potentially less than fully accurate internal clock,the fact that they are asleep for relatively long periods of time, thefact that they get out of synchronization with respect to themain/master clock to which the other wireless communication devices aresynchronized, etc.

In addition, with respect to operating in accordance with TDMAsignaling, and given the consideration that different respectivewireless communication devices will operate using different respectiveinternal clocks (e.g., oftentimes based upon an internal operatingcrystal), even though there may be certain synchronization operationsthat will attempt to minimize the lack of synchronization betweendifferent respective devices, in a real world application, there mayunfortunately be certain differences, inaccuracies, etc. between thedifferent respective clocks of the different respective devices. Forexample, crystals used for wireless communication devices (e.g., STAs)within the context of a WLAN can have an accuracy specified in a certainamount of parts per million (e.g., X ppm). The accuracy of such acrystal employed within a given wireless communication device results ina variance of the local TSF clock that is used in that particularwireless communication device as a reference for the beginning of eachrespective SP. Those wireless communication devices that are notspecifically designated or operative as being low power (e.g., non-LPSTAs) may be able to correct their respective TSF timers by usinginformation received from a manager/coordinator wireless communicationdevice (e.g., an AP, STA operating as an AP, etc.), such as may bereceived in beacons from such a manager/coordinator wirelesscommunication device. If a given wireless communication device is notable to receive, process, etc. some number of certain respective beacons(e.g., because it has been sleeping, is asleep, is at less than a fullfunctionality state, etc.) that respective wireless communication devicemay not be able to correct for error with respect to timing referencesbefore the error accumulates to a significant and unmanageable size(e.g., the difference in timing and/or error being beyond what can beeasily corrected).

Considering an illustrative example, if T is the amount of time that awireless communication device has been asleep, then that particularwireless communication device can have as much as an error of E=T×X×10⁻⁶in its respective TSF clock when it awakes (e.g., considering T beingthe amount of time that the wireless communication device is asleep, Xbeing the accuracy specified in ppm, and E being the error). As an evenmore detailed example, by assigning values to these respectivevariables, T=7200 seconds (two hours), X=20, then the associated error,E, will be approximately 150 ms.

Generally speaking, the respective boundaries associated with an SP areexpected to have a tolerance of less than a relatively small amount(e.g., approximately 0.1 ms). In order to allow for correction of theTSF timer in a wireless communication device (e.g., an LP STA) withoutrequiring a particular wireless communication device to wait to receivea beacon, the TSF timer may be embedded in one or more response framessent from a manager/coordinator wireless communication device (e.g., anAP, STA operating as an AP, etc.) to any of the other wirelesscommunication devices within the wireless communication system (e.g.,the STAs within the system, BSS, etc.). In addition, while it is notedthat certain timing related information, including TSF timer relatedinformation, may be included within beacons that are transmitted fromone wireless communication device to other wireless communicationdevices, it is noted that any desired additional frames (e.g., notspecifically beacons) may alternatively or also include such timingrelated information, including TSF timer related information, and may besent by anyone of the wireless communication devices (e.g., themanager/coordinator wireless communication device or any of the otherwireless communication devices, including any STA) to provide foradditional or frequent timing information to allow a given wirelesscommunication device (e.g., an awakening STA) the opportunity tosynchronize its respective clock without specifically having to wait forthe arrival of a beacon.

Also, to avoid the possibility of a wireless communication devicetransmitting outside of an SP designated for that particular wirelesscommunication device, that wireless communication device may schedule arespective wake-up time closer towards the middle of an SP. As may beunderstood, because of the potentiality of relatively inaccurate timingin regards to the internal timing reference of a given wirelesscommunication device, by scheduling a wake-up time to be further awayfrom the respective edges of an SP, there would be less of a likelihoodthat a given wireless communication device would awaken and begin atransmission at an SP edge/boundary.

Also, referring again to the variables employed above, where E being anassociated error, if it is determined that E>P×Tdur (where Tdur is theduration of a particular SP), and also where P<½, then TDMA signalingmay not be the best solution or appropriate for a given wirelesscommunication device (e.g., a STA). For example, if a STA isspecifically an LP STA, then that particular STA might not wake up forsynchronization to contain the timing error below a particular value,namely, below the value of P×Tdur. Also, those STAs which may notspecifically be LP STAs, but may alternatively be referred to as mediumpower low data rate STAs (MPLD STAs), maybe operative to wake upoccasionally to receive beacons and maintain timing accuracy. Forexample, even if such MPLD STAs do not necessarily stay asleep orinactive for periods of time that are sufficiently long enough to causea TSF tracking error exceeding some threshold (e.g., 0.1 ms), suchwireless communication devices may nonetheless wake up to receivebeacons and maintain sufficient or acceptable timing accuracy. Statedanother way, if the internal clock of a given wireless communicationdevice cannot maintain accuracy sufficiently well (e.g., such as with atleast one half of the accuracy of the manager/coordinator wirelesscommunication device), then TDMA signaling may potentially not be thebest or preferred implementation for such an embodiment. Analogously,for those wireless communication devices that stay asleep for such along period of time that maintaining timing synchronization even withinsuch a relatively generous constraint as described above, an alternativeimplementation to TDMA signaling may be preferred.

FIG. 21 illustrates an embodiment 2100 of multiple service periods (SPs)for use in various wireless communication devices within a wirelesscommunication system. As can be seen with respect to this diagram, agiven SP announcement/assignment may be provided to direct operation fora relatively long subsequent period of time, in which differentcommunication medium access options may be employed (e.g., enhanceddistributed channel access (EDCA), polled, scheduled, carrier sensemultiple access/collision avoidance (CSMA/CA), etc. and/or anycombination thereof, etc.) during different respective periods of time.

For example, at the top of the diagram, a given announcement/assignmentframe is provided (e.g., from a manager/coordinator wirelesscommunication device) to a number of other wireless communicationdevices that specifies the different respective medium access optionsthat are performed sequentially over a period of time, and the patternis repeated. That is to say, the SP instances, which may be determinedby a manager/coordinator wireless communication device (e.g., an AP),may be periodic in certain instances. The announcement/assignment mayinclude the number of times in which the overall pattern is repeated,the respective order of the different respective medium access optionsperformed, and/or other characteristics associated with suchperiodicity, etc.

As may be seen with respect to the middle of the diagram, there may be agiven time period in which there is no communication medium accessallowed by any of the respective wireless communication devices. Also,as may be seen with respect to the bottom the diagram, the may bemultiple respective time periods in which there is no communicationmedium access allowed by any of the respective wireless communicationdevices.

FIG. 22 illustrates an alternative embodiment 2200 of multiple SPs foruse in various wireless communication devices within a wirelesscommunication system. As can be seen with respect to this diagram, theremay be great variability and variation between different respective SPannouncements. For example, a first SP announcement may indicate a firstone or more communication medium access options to be performedthereafter. A second SP announcement may indicate a second one or morecommunication medium access options to be performed thereafter.Different respective SP announcements may also include one or morecommon communication medium access options. As also described respectother embodiments and/or diagrams herein, a given SP announcement may beadaptively generated based upon prior history, operations, and/orenvironmental conditions, etc. such as with respect to one or more otherprior SPs. That is to say, such SP announcement may be adaptivelydetermined based upon any one or more prior considerations.

Generally speaking, each respective SP may be described within an SPannouncement and/or assignment that is provided from one of the wirelesscommunication devices within the wireless communication system (e.g., amanager/coordinator wireless communication device, AP, STA operating asan AP, etc.). As may be seen with respect to this diagram, such an SPannouncement may be periodic. Also, such an SP announcement may be donethrough any of a variety of different types of frames transmitted from awireless communication device (e.g., beacons, regularly transmittedframes including data frames, management frames, acknowledgment frames,probe responses, etc.). Also, it is noted that while certain embodimentsoperate by providing respective SP announcements somewhat regularly(e.g., periodically, in accordance with a uniform time base, etc.),alternative embodiments envision providing such SP announcements atother respective times then periodically (e.g., providing such SPannouncements at non-specified/non-uniform/non-periodic times, such asmay be made in accordance with certain events, conditions, actions,etc.).

Among the various amount of information that may be included withinvarious embodiments of an SP announcement frame, a given embodiment ofan SP announcement frame may include those particular wirelesscommunication devices which are allowed and disallowed users of one ormore SPs that are described or correspond to a given SP announcementframe. For example, in certain embodiments, an association ID (AID)(e.g., a shortened, but unique substitute for a full 48 bit MAC addressallowed and/or disallowed from operating in the SP). For example, an AIDmay be viewed as being a one-to-one mapping of the full 48 bit MACaddress to a relatively shorter bit address, such as 11 bits, that isunique within the BSS). That is to say, within a given BSS, amanager/coordinator wireless communication device (e.g., AP) can assignthe respective AIDs to the respective wireless communication devicestherein.

With respect to categorization of those wireless communication deviceswhich may be allowed and/or disallowed from operating within arespective SP, the definition of an entire class may be made and suchinformation may be provided within an SP announcement frame. Forexample, different types of wireless communication devices may becategorized within one or more classes based on their respective needsand/or characteristics. For example, based on any of a number ofconsiderations including the frequency of transmission of a givenwireless communication device, the bandwidth requirements needed (e.g.,sensor and/or monitoring devices/STAs may require relatively lowerbandwidth than other devices/STAs), the traffic patterns associatedtherewith, the frame format capabilities, quality of service(QoS)/latency limits for different respective streams (e.g., includingtheir relative QoS/latency limits such as for different types includingvoice, video, data, etc.), existence of dedicated traffic streams to bedelivered by or to a particular wireless communication device, etc., thedifferent respective wireless communication devices may be categorizedinto one or more allowed classes and disallowed classes.

Also, it is noted that, within a given BSS, there may be differentrespective wireless communication devices having mixed capabilities(e.g., IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.11ah [currently underdevelopment], and/or any other combination of such IEEE 802.11xfunctionality sets, etc.). In certain situations, there may be differentrespective preamble types employed, such as a first preamble typecorresponding to normal or typical operations (e.g., relatively highthroughput as may be associated with a handset, laptop, etc.) and asecond preamble type corresponding to another application type (e.g.,below noise acquisition, having a relatively longer preamble, such asmay be employed for sensing and/or monitoring applications). Operationin accordance with a given SP may specify that those respective wirelesscommunication devices operating within that SP must operate within aparticular operational mode (e.g., in accordance with an extended rangemode of operation or in accordance with normal mode of operation).

Also, with respect to the categorization and classification of therespective wireless communication devices as operating within a givenSP, one or more of the classes may be determined by any one of thewireless communication devices (e.g., not necessarily only by amanager/coordinator wireless communication device, such as an AP). Ifdesired, such categorization and classification of the respectivewireless communication devices may be performed in a cooperative manner,such that one or more of the wireless communication devices within thewireless communication system provides certain classification, and thatclassification is negotiated and ultimately approved by amanager/coordinator wireless communication device, such as an AP. Ineven other embodiments, such classification may be performed duringassociation by a manager/coordinator wireless communication device, suchas an AP. These respective class assignments may be made in the mannerthat allows for the spacing of potential transmitters sufficiently farapart from one another in time (e.g., respective transmission from thevarious communication devices being sufficiently temporally separated)as to reduce a probability of collisions from the respective wirelesscommunication devices. Also, the categorization of the respectivewireless communication devices into one or more different respectivegroups may be achieved in accordance with group ID related operations,as described in one of the U.S. utility patent applications incorporatedby reference above. For example, a group of wireless communicationdevices may be specified and identified in a separate exchange, andthose wireless communication devices may be assigned to a specific groupID value. The use of such a group ID may be one possible means by whichcertain wireless communication devices may be specified and identifiedand allowed to operate during a particular SP.

Moreover, with respect to other characteristics associated with an SPannouncement, the start of the SP may be associated with the clock ofthe transmitting wireless communication device from which the SPannouncement was sent (e.g., a manager/coordinator wirelesscommunication device, such as an AP) as a reference. As described withrespect to certain embodiments and/or diagrams herein, such an SPannouncement may indicate a periodicity of one or more subsequent SPs(if applicable), the duration of the one or more subsequent SPs, therespective allowed communication medium access options employed orallowed during the one or more subsequent SPs (or his subdivisionsthereof) (e.g., enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA), polled,scheduled, carrier sense multiple access/collision avoidance (CSMA/CA),etc. and/or any combination thereof, etc.), whether or not any frameformat types are allowed or disallowed, and/or any other desiredinformation, etc. Also, and SP identifier may be included with anyembodiment of an SP announcement that uniquely identifies an SP, aperiodic set of SPs, an aperiodic set of SPs, etc. Generally, such an SPidentifier, or SP identifiers, may be implemented in such a way thateach respective SP identifier may be viewed as an index that correspondsto a number of parameters which may be defined elsewhere (e.g., within alookup table, memory, chart, etc.).

Also, an SP announcement may be used as a mechanism to quiet thecommunication network during one or more given SPs for all other type oftraffic therein. For example, an SP announcement may be used to provideinformation to those wireless communication devices not specified withina given SP regarding when those non-specified wireless communicationdevices are specifically not to transmit. That is to say, an SPannouncement may include a description of the SP start, the periodicitythereof if any, the duration, one or more allowed classes, one or moredisallowed classes, etc. and such information may be used by certainnon-participating classes to determine when specifically they are not totransmit. Generally, if a wireless communication device not explicitlyprovided information regarding it being specifically allowed ordisallowed, this additional information within an SP announcement may beused to deduce whether or not that wireless communication device can orcannot transmit during one or more SPs specified within an SPannouncement.

Also, any number of frame exchanges may be used to quiet thecommunication network for other types of traffic during a given SP. Asan example, a manager/coordinator wireless communication device, such asan AP, can send specific keep out messages to non-participating classesat the beginning of each respective SP. Such a manager/coordinatorwireless communication device, such as an AP, may also announce an SP atthe start of the SP within announcement transmission which immediatelyprecedes the start of the SP. Such an announcement may include clockinformation that allows those wireless communication devices withrelatively lower accuracy clocks (e.g., LP STAs) to synchronize theirrespective clocks. This announcement may also contain additionalinformation such as an indication of which SP is starting and may alsorepeat any previously announced information about the SP as well (e.g.duration, one or more allowed classes, one or more disallowed classes,etc.).

As may be understood, such an announcement may operate to aid in thesynchronization of clocks of the respective wireless communicationdevices, taking into account the inaccuracy of some of the clocks usedby those wireless communication devices. That is to say, a wirelesscommunication device employing a relatively lower accuracy clock mayawaken earlier than necessary in order to ensure that the wirelesscommunication devices awake at the start of the SP. That is to say, asdescribed with respect to other embodiments and/or diagrams herein, if agiven wireless communication device which is not particularly certain ofthe time (e.g., because of the relatively lower accuracy or potentiallyinaccurate clock), then that wireless communication device will not becertain of exactly when a given STB begins. By providing an APannouncement at the start of the SP, synchronization may be achieved forthose wireless communication devices that are waiting and may alsoprovide a definitive indication of the start of the SP. Also, if the SPis not expected to contain any wireless communication devices that dohave or potentially have relatively lower accuracy or potentiallyinaccurate clocks (e.g., the SP may not include any LP STAs), then themanager/coordinator wireless communication device, such as an AP, mayrefrain from announcing the start of the SP in an effort to reduceoverhead. That is to say, if there are not expected to be any wirelesscommunication devices within the group that may have problems withrespect to timing and synchronization, then a specific announcement atthe start of an SP may not be necessary or desirable in such specificsituations.

Also, such a manager/coordinator wireless communication device, such asan AP, may use a shortened form of such an announcement (e.g., employingsuch an announcement that contains only and SP identifier and a subsetof the information that was contained in a previous SP announcement);again, such variations and operations may be employed in an effort toreduce overhead. By using or referencing information that was includedin one or more prior SP announcements, overhead and information within acurrent SP announcement may be reduced.

With respect to the specific communication medium access optionsperformed during each respective SP, or during each respectivesubdivision of an SP, any of a variety of different types ofcommunication medium access may be employed, including enhanceddistributed channel access (EDCA), polled, scheduled, carrier sensemultiple access/collision avoidance (CSMA/CA), etc. and/or anycombination thereof, etc.

For some particular classes of traffic, polling may be used during theirrespective SPs. For example, with respect to those wirelesscommunication devices that may only occasionally or periodically operateas transmitters (e.g., those wireless communication devices performingmonitoring and/or sensing operations, such as SMSTAs, etc.), amanager/coordinator wireless communication device, such as an AP, willknow particularly when, or approximately when, those wirelesscommunication devices should have new information to send (e.g., becauseof any periodicity in their respective operation), and themanager/coordinator wireless communication device, such as an AP, maythen poll those respective wireless communication devices at orapproximately at those times. It is also noted that all of therespective wireless communication devices need not necessarily be polledduring a single SP, in that, some of the wireless communication devicesmay be polled only every N-th SP in a sequence of M periodicallyrepeating SPs (e.g., every third SP, or every 10th SP, etc.).

Also, if a particular wireless communication device, such as amonitoring and/or sensing wireless communication device, does notrespond to a poll within a certain period of time, then themanager/coordinator wireless communication device, such as an AP, can doany one of a number of different things. For example, themanager/coordinator wireless communication device may wait for a periodof time and then try to poll that same non-responding wirelesscommunication device again. Alternatively, the manager/coordinatorwireless communication device may move on to and begin polling the nextwireless communication device (e.g., the next monitoring and/or sensingwireless communication device) in the list. In addition, as alsodescribed with respect to other embodiments and/or diagrams herein,various respective communications may be employed to provide systemclock information. In the context of performing such polling, to allowan awakening wireless communication device to determine if it has infact awakened at the right time, a respective polling frame can includesystem clock information. In other words, a polling frame can be used asanother means to synchronize the respective clocks of the respectivewireless communication devices within the communication system. Apolling frame, as well as any other frame communicated between wirelesscommunication devices, may be used for clock synchronization purposes.

In an effort to minimize potentially wasted bandwidth during one or moreSPs, different operations may be employed to reclaim unused SP time. Inaddition, some of the SPs may be terminated before their scheduled endby a manager/coordinator wireless communication device, such as an AP.Considering an exemplary situation, when allowed class of wirelesscommunication devices has little or no traffic for a given SP, then thatSP may be terminated before its scheduled end. Alternatively, othermechanisms may be used to end an SP before its scheduled time.

For example, with respect to an AP governed implementation, such as inwhich an AP is polling different respective STAs within the wirelesscommunication system, a poll-based SP may be terminated by the AP whenit determines or sees that it has decided not to poll any additionalSTAs. For example, considering that an SP is for a specific class andthat an AP has already polled all members of the class, then the AP mayterminate the SP early given that all of the respective members of theclass have already been polled. Alternatively, such an AP may terminatethe SP implicitly by polling a STA that is not specifically includedwithin the class of that particular SP (e.g., a poll may be provided toa specific individual STA or to a group of STA's or to a class of STA'sthat were not members of the one or more classes specifically allowedfor that given AP). Alternatively, an SP may be ended early by an APthat transmits a packet indicating that other STA's may use theremainder of the SP. That is to say, other classes, other groups, otherindividual STA's, etc. may be permitted to use the remainder of the SPafter receiving the packet that indicates that they may do so.

Considering another embodiment, with respect to a scheduled SPimplementation, such as in which an AP has previously arranged schedulesfor STA's to exchange traffic within a given SP, then a STA may indicateduring its respective SP that it does not have any traffic associatedwith a specific STA or for all STA's for the current SP and/or one ormore subsequently scheduled SP's. In response, such amanager/coordinator wireless communication devices, such as an AP, mayreceive an indication from an STA to end an SP earlier than scheduled inorder to reclaim the unused portion of the SP for use by other STA's, asdescribed above.

In accordance with such operations as may be employed to identify andreclaim unused time within SP, certain considerations may be performedparticularly when operating in accordance with an SP that uses an EDCAmechanism. For example, an EDCA based SP-termination mechanism may beimplemented to start with and “intent to compete” signal (e.g., such asin accordance with intending to compete for access to the communicationmedium) within a specified window that occurs at the beginning of theSP. Such an intent to compete signal may be transmitted by any wirelesscommunication device (e.g., STA) that is eligible and willing to competefor communication access during the SP. The intent to compete maybeimplemented such that it is recognizably different from othertransmitted signals and very short in time duration (e.g. one or twoOFDM symbols). If a manager/coordinator wireless communication device,such as an AP, detects any intent to compete signal, then themanager/coordinator wireless communication device may be implemented torepeat the intent to compete after the end of the specified window toindicate to all members of the BSS that the SP will be used. Forexample, there may be certain wireless communication devices within thesystem that are unable to hear the intent to compete signal that isprovided from another one of the wireless communication devices, but themanager/coordinator wireless communication device will most likely beable to hear the intent to compete signal, and that intent to meetsignal may be forwarded on to the other wireless communication devices.The absence of an intent to compete signal during the window or in thetime allotted for the manager/coordinator wireless communication devices(e.g., AP) to repeat the indication immediately after the window allowsother class wireless communication devices (e.g., STAs) to determine ifthe SP will be used.

In an alternative embodiment, such a manager/coordinator wirelesscommunication device, such as an AP, may be implemented to direct thereuse of certain remaining portions of an SP. For example, if an APdetects an idle period, and if the duration of such an idle periodexceeds some threshold, then the AP may ask the other wirelesscommunication devices (e.g., STAs) if they desire to use that remainingidle period of SP. For example, within an SP, the AP may be implementedto look for and detect and an IDLE period having the characteristicssuch that the IDLE period>(CWMAX+1)*SLOTTIME+AIFS (CWMAX for theclass(es) given permission to operate within the SP).

If the required minimum IDLE is detected, then the AP may be implementedto send a “Permission to use” message to the other wirelesscommunication devices within the system. Such permission to use theremaining portion of an SP may be individually sent to respectivewireless communication devices, sent in accordance with BCAST, and/orsent specifically to any class or group or subclass, etc. If desired,the AP itself may be implemented to choose to use any unused time withinSP specifically for itself (e.g., to the exclusion of other wirelesscommunication devices within the system). It is noted that CWMAX can bedifferent for each different class (e.g., a first class having a firstCWMAX, a second class having a second CWMAX, etc., and those respectivevalues may be adaptively adjusted and/or determined).

In addition, an AP can choose to share the SP earlier rather than after(CWMAX+1)*SLOTTIME+AIFS of IDLE time. For example, if there is anoverlapping BSS that has scheduled the time of this SP for some otherpurpose that overlaps with this SP, then the medium might not becomeIDLE for (CWMAX+1)*SLOTTIME. The service period may not be terminatedearlier than some predetermined time (e.g., X microseconds/μsec) Thevalue X μsec may be calculated based on the accuracy of the crystal andthe maximum time that a user of each class can go to sleep and notreceive the beacon or other packets for synchronization. In addition,the value of X μsec may be tailored specifically for those wirelesscommunication devices that may have relatively lower accuracy orinaccurate clocks. For example, in certain embodiments, the largestvalue that may be used for value X μsec may be specifically tailored tobe approximately ½ of that duration of an SP (e.g., particularly forthose wireless communication devices having relatively lower accuracy orinaccurate clocks). In addition, different respective values of X may beemployed for different respective classes or groups of wirelesscommunication devices (e.g., a first class or device having a first X, asecond class or device having a second X, etc., and those respectivevalues may be adaptively adjusted and/or determined).

FIG. 23 illustrates an embodiment 2300 of TDMA termination for variouswireless communication devices within a wireless communication system.With respect to this exemplary TDMA termination embodiment, amanager/coordinator wireless communication device, such as in AP, maybeimplemented to detect IDLE duration>(CWMAX+1)*SLOTTIME+AIFS during an SPthat is for STA of class L. In response to this, the manager/coordinatorwireless communication device may be implemented to send permission tothe other wireless communication devices within the system to useremainder of SP to STAs of class M. Alternatively, themanager/coordinator wireless communication device may be implemented tosend permission to all classes or to an individual STA, etc. The class Mwireless communication devices (e.g., STAs) begin to use leftover classL SP time.

Also, within certain embodiments, operations may be effectuated using asubset of PHY preambles in some SPs. For example, there may be differentpreambles used for different use-cases in accordance with variousapplications, including those operating in compliance with the currentlydeveloping IEEE 802.11 ah standard. For example, different respectivepreamble types may be employed including long-range preamble as comparedto normal range preamble. Alternatively, other variations of differentrespective preamble types may include those related towards multi-user(MU) applications and those related towards single-user (SU)applications. Generally speaking, there may be some situations in whichthere is variability among the respective preamble types employed asspecifically tailored to different respective wireless communicationdevices. The use of a specific SP or SPs may be used to restrict thetype of PHY preambles that are used to transmit packets in the SP inorder to effectuate any of a number of considerations.

For example, with respect to reducing overhead, the specification orrestriction of a specific SP or SPs may be employed by avoiding thenecessity of having a combined header that is receivable by thosewireless communication devices (e.g., STAs) with different receivercapabilities (with respect to receiving preambles).

With respect to reducing the complexity of those wireless communicationdevices (e.g., STAs), those respective wireless communication devicesmay be implemented to be relatively simpler because they do not have toimplement capability to receive all possible and variant preamble types.

With respect to reducing power consumption of those wirelesscommunication devices (e.g., STAs), those respective wirelesscommunication devices that are implemented and do have the capability ofmultiple preamble processing can disable processing for those particularpreambles not allowed in an SP in order to save power. For example, sucha given wireless communication devices may be limited to operate inaccordance with a reduced or less than full functionality set.

FIG. 24, FIG. 25, FIG. 26, FIG. 27, and FIG. 28 illustrate variousembodiments of methods performed by one or more communication devices.

Referring to method 2400 of FIG. 24, the method 2400 begins bygenerating an announcement or assignment frame to direct signaling froma plurality of smart meter stations (SMSTAs) to the apparatus inaccordance with time division multiple access (TDMA) signaling, as shownin a block 2410. The method 2400 continues by transmitting (e.g., usinga radio of a communication device, access point (AP), etc.) a signalincluding the announcement or assignment frame to the plurality ofSMSTAs, as shown in a block 2420.

The method 2400 then operates by receiving (e.g., using the radio of thecommunication device, AP, etc.) to receive at least one additionalsignal from at least one of the plurality of SMSTAs, as shown in a block2430.

Referring to method 2500 of FIG. 25, the method 2500 begins bytransmitting (e.g., using a radio of a communication device, accesspoint (AP), etc.) a first signal including a first announcement orassignment frame to a first group of SMSTAs, as shown in a block 2510.The method 2500 continues by supporting communications (e.g., uplinkand/or downlink) between the communication device and at least one ofthe first group of SMSTAs based on the first announcement or assignmentframe, as shown in a block 2520.

The method 2500 then operates by transmitting (e.g., using the radio ofthe communication device, AP, etc.) a second signal including a secondannouncement or assignment frame to a second group of SMSTAs (mayinclude at least one SMSTA of the first group of SMSTAs), as shown in ablock 2530. The method 2500 continues by supporting communications(e.g., uplink and/or downlink) between the communication device and atleast one of the second group of SMSTAs based on the second announcementor assignment frame, as shown in a block 2540.

Referring to method 2600 of FIG. 26, the method 2600 begins bytransmitting (e.g., using a radio of a communication device, AP, etc.) asignal including a first announcement or assignment frame indicating anumber of service periods (SPs) to a group of SMSTAs, as shown in ablock 2610. During a first SP, the method 2600 continues by supportingcommunications (e.g., uplink and/or downlink) between the communicationdevice and a first at least one of the SMSTAs, as shown in a block 2620.

During a second SP, the method 2600 then operates by supportingcommunications (e.g., uplink and/or downlink) between the communicationdevice and a second at least one SMSTA (may include at least one SMSTAoperative during the first SP), as shown in a block 2630.

In some embodiments, even more SPs may be employed. For example, in someinstances, during an n-th SP, the method 2600 continues by supportingcommunications (e.g., uplink and/or downlink) between the communicationdevice and an n-th at least one SMSTA (may include at least one SMSTAoperative during the first and/or second SP), as shown in a block 2640.

Referring to method 2700 of FIG. 27, the method 2700 begins bytransmitting (e.g., using a radio of a communication device, AP, etc.) asignal including a first announcement or assignment frame indicating anumber of service periods (SPs) to a group of SMSTAs, as shown in ablock 2710. The method 2700 continues, during a first SP, such that afirst at least one of the SMSTAs making communication media access inaccordance with a first operational mode for supporting communicationswith the communication device (e.g., uplink and/or downlink), as shownin a block 2720.

The method 2700 then operates, during a second SP, such that a second atleast one of the SMSTAs making communication media access in accordancewith a second operational mode (and/or or the first operational mode)for supporting communications with the communication device (e.g.,uplink and/or downlink), as shown in a block 2730.

In some embodiments, even more SPs may be employed. For example, in someinstances, the method 2700 continues, during an n-th SP, such that ann-th at least one of the SMSTAs making communication media access inaccordance with an n-th operational mode (and/or or the first or secondoperational mode) for supporting communications with the communicationdevice (e.g., uplink and/or downlink), as shown in a block 2740.

Referring to method 2800 of FIG. 28, within a period of time (e.g., SP),the method 2800 begins by supporting communications (e.g., uplink and/ordownlink) between a communication device (e.g., AP) and at least oneSMSTA, as shown in a block 2810. The method 2800 continues bydetermining whether or not all communications completed before scheduledend of time period (e.g., SP), as shown in a decision block 2820.

If it is determined that one or more communications need to be performedbefore the scheduled end of time period (e.g., before the end of an SP),then the method 2800 continues performing the operations such asdescribed with reference to block 2810.

However, if it is determined that all communications are in factcompleted or performed before the scheduled end of time period (e.g.,before the end of an SP), then the method 2800 operates by reclaimingunused time (e.g., within the SP) for at least one additionalcommunication (and/or at least one other use), as shown in a block 2830.

It is also noted that the various operations and functions as describedwith respect to various methods herein may be performed within awireless communication device, such as using a baseband processingmodule and/or a processing module implemented therein, (e.g., such as inaccordance with the baseband processing module 64 and/or the processingmodule 50 as described with reference to FIG. 2) and/or other componentstherein. For example, such a baseband processing module can generatesuch signals and frames as described herein as well as perform variousoperations and analyses as described herein, or any other operations andfunctions as described herein, etc. or their respective equivalents.

In some embodiments, such a baseband processing module and/or aprocessing module (which may be implemented in the same device orseparate devices) can perform such processing to generate signals fortransmission using at least one of any number of radios and at least oneof any number of antennae to another wireless communication device(e.g., which also may include at least one of any number of radios andat least one of any number of antennae) in accordance with variousaspects of the invention, and/or any other operations and functions asdescribed herein, etc. or their respective equivalents. In someembodiments, such processing is performed cooperatively by a processingmodule in a first device, and a baseband processing module within asecond device. In other embodiments, such processing is performed whollyby a baseband processing module or a processing module.

As may be used herein, the terms “substantially” and “approximately”provides an industry-accepted tolerance for its corresponding termand/or relativity between items. Such an industry-accepted toleranceranges from less than one percent to fifty percent and corresponds to,but is not limited to, component values, integrated circuit processvariations, temperature variations, rise and fall times, and/or thermalnoise. Such relativity between items ranges from a difference of a fewpercent to magnitude differences. As may also be used herein, theterm(s) “operably coupled to”, “coupled to”, and/or “coupling” includesdirect coupling between items and/or indirect coupling between items viaan intervening item (e.g., an item includes, but is not limited to, acomponent, an element, a circuit, and/or a module) where, for indirectcoupling, the intervening item does not modify the information of asignal but may adjust its current level, voltage level, and/or powerlevel. As may further be used herein, inferred coupling (i.e., where oneelement is coupled to another element by inference) includes direct andindirect coupling between two items in the same manner as “coupled to”.As may even further be used herein, the term “operable to” or “operablycoupled to” indicates that an item includes one or more of powerconnections, input(s), output(s), etc., to perform, when activated, oneor more its corresponding functions and may further include inferredcoupling to one or more other items. As may still further be usedherein, the term “associated with”, includes direct and/or indirectcoupling of separate items and/or one item being embedded within anotheritem. As may be used herein, the term “compares favorably”, indicatesthat a comparison between two or more items, signals, etc., provides adesired relationship. For example, when the desired relationship is thatsignal 1 has a greater magnitude than signal 2, a favorable comparisonmay be achieved when the magnitude of signal 1 is greater than that ofsignal 2 or when the magnitude of signal 2 is less than that of signal1.

As may also be used herein, the terms “processing module”, “module”,“processing circuit”, and/or “processing unit” (e.g., including variousmodules and/or circuitries such as may be operative, implemented, and/orfor encoding, for decoding, for baseband processing, etc.) may be asingle processing device or a plurality of processing devices. Such aprocessing device may be a microprocessor, micro-controller, digitalsignal processor, microcomputer, central processing unit, fieldprogrammable gate array, programmable logic device, state machine, logiccircuitry, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device thatmanipulates signals (analog and/or digital) based on hard coding of thecircuitry and/or operational instructions. The processing module,module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit may have anassociated memory and/or an integrated memory element, which may be asingle memory device, a plurality of memory devices, and/or embeddedcircuitry of the processing module, module, processing circuit, and/orprocessing unit. Such a memory device may be a read-only memory (ROM),random access memory (RAM), volatile memory, non-volatile memory, staticmemory, dynamic memory, flash memory, cache memory, and/or any devicethat stores digital information. Note that if the processing module,module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit includes more thanone processing device, the processing devices may be centrally located(e.g., directly coupled together via a wired and/or wireless busstructure) or may be distributedly located (e.g., cloud computing viaindirect coupling via a local area network and/or a wide area network).Further note that if the processing module, module, processing circuit,and/or processing unit implements one or more of its functions via astate machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logiccircuitry, the memory and/or memory element storing the correspondingoperational instructions may be embedded within, or external to, thecircuitry comprising the state machine, analog circuitry, digitalcircuitry, and/or logic circuitry. Still further note that, the memoryelement may store, and the processing module, module, processingcircuit, and/or processing unit executes, hard coded and/or operationalinstructions corresponding to at least some of the steps and/orfunctions illustrated in one or more of the Figures. Such a memorydevice or memory element can be included in an article of manufacture.

The present invention has been described above with the aid of methodsteps illustrating the performance of specified functions andrelationships thereof. The boundaries and sequence of these functionalbuilding blocks and method steps have been arbitrarily defined hereinfor convenience of description. Alternate boundaries and sequences canbe defined so long as the specified functions and relationships areappropriately performed. Any such alternate boundaries or sequences arethus within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention. Further, theboundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarilydefined for convenience of description. Alternate boundaries could bedefined as long as the certain significant functions are appropriatelyperformed. Similarly, flow diagram blocks may also have been arbitrarilydefined herein to illustrate certain significant functionality. To theextent used, the flow diagram block boundaries and sequence could havebeen defined otherwise and still perform the certain significantfunctionality. Such alternate definitions of both functional buildingblocks and flow diagram blocks and sequences are thus within the scopeand spirit of the claimed invention. One of average skill in the artwill also recognize that the functional building blocks, and otherillustrative blocks, modules and components herein, can be implementedas illustrated or by discrete components, application specificintegrated circuits, processors executing appropriate software and thelike or any combination thereof.

The present invention may have also been described, at least in part, interms of one or more embodiments. An embodiment of the present inventionis used herein to illustrate the present invention, an aspect thereof, afeature thereof, a concept thereof, and/or an example thereof. Aphysical embodiment of an apparatus, an article of manufacture, amachine, and/or of a process that embodies the present invention mayinclude one or more of the aspects, features, concepts, examples, etc.described with reference to one or more of the embodiments discussedherein. Further, from figure to figure, the embodiments may incorporatethe same or similarly named functions, steps, modules, etc. that may usethe same or different reference numbers and, as such, the functions,steps, modules, etc. may be the same or similar functions, steps,modules, etc. or different ones.

Unless specifically stated to the contra, signals to, from, and/orbetween elements in a figure of any of the figures presented herein maybe analog or digital, continuous time or discrete time, and single-endedor differential. For instance, if a signal path is shown as asingle-ended path, it also represents a differential signal path.Similarly, if a signal path is shown as a differential path, it alsorepresents a single-ended signal path. While one or more particulararchitectures are described herein, other architectures can likewise beimplemented that use one or more data buses not expressly shown, directconnectivity between elements, and/or indirect coupling between otherelements as recognized by one of average skill in the art.

The term “module” is used in the description of the various embodimentsof the present invention. A module includes a functional block that isimplemented via hardware to perform one or module functions such as theprocessing of one or more input signals to produce one or more outputsignals. The hardware that implements the module may itself operate inconjunction software, and/or firmware. As used herein, a module maycontain one or more sub-modules that themselves are modules.

While particular combinations of various functions and features of thepresent invention have been expressly described herein, othercombinations of these features and functions are likewise possible. Thepresent invention is not limited by the particular examples disclosedherein and expressly incorporates these other combinations.

Mode Selection Tables:

TABLE 1 2.4 GHz, 20/22 MHz channel BW, 54 Mbps max bit rate Code RateModulation Rate NBPSC NCBPS NDBPS EVM Sensitivity ACR AACR Barker 1 BPSKBarker 2 QPSK 5.5 CCK 6 BPSK 0.5 1 48 24 −5 −82 16 32 9 BPSK 0.75 1 4836 −8 −81 15 31 11 CCK 12 QPSK 0.5 2 96 48 −10 −79 13 29 18 QPSK 0.75 296 72 −13 −77 11 27 24 16-QAM 0.5 4 192 96 −16 −74 8 24 36 16-QAM 0.75 4192 144 −19 −70 4 20 48 64-QAM 0.666 6 288 192 −22 −66 0 16 54 64-QAM0.75 6 288 216 −25 −65 −1 15

TABLE 2 Channelization for Table 1 Channel Frequency (MHz) 1 2412 2 24173 2422 4 2427 5 2432 6 2437 7 2442 8 2447 9 2452 10 2457 11 2462 12 2467

TABLE 3 Power Spectral Density (PSD) Mask for Table 1 PSD Mask 1Frequency Offset dBr −9 MHz to 9 MHz 0 +/−11 MHz −20 +/−20 MHz −28 +/−30MHz and greater −50

TABLE 4 5 GHz, 20 MHz channel BW, 54 Mbps max bit rate Code RateModulation Rate NBPSC NCBPS NDBPS EVM Sensitivity ACR AACR 6 BPSK 0.5 148 24 −5 −82 16 32 9 BPSK 0.75 1 48 36 −8 −81 15 31 12 QPSK 0.5 2 96 48−10 −79 13 29 18 QPSK 0.75 2 96 72 −13 −77 11 27 24 16-QAM 0.5 4 192 96−16 −74 8 24 36 16-QAM 0.75 4 192 144 −19 −70 4 20 48 64-QAM 0.666 6 288192 −22 −66 0 16 54 64-QAM 0.75 6 288 216 −25 −65 −1 15

TABLE 5 Channelization for Table 4 Frequency Frequency Channel (MHz)Country Channel (MHz) Country 240 4920 Japan 244 4940 Japan 248 4960Japan 252 4980 Japan 8 5040 Japan 12 5060 Japan 16 5080 Japan 36 5180USA/Europe 34 5170 Japan 40 5200 USA/Europe 38 5190 Japan 44 5220USA/Europe 42 5210 Japan 48 5240 USA/Europe 46 5230 Japan 52 5260USA/Europe 56 5280 USA/Europe 60 5300 USA/Europe 64 5320 USA/Europe 1005500 USA/Europe 104 5520 USA/Europe 108 5540 USA/Europe 112 5560USA/Europe 116 5580 USA/Europe 120 5600 USA/Europe 124 5620 USA/Europe128 5640 USA/Europe 132 5660 USA/Europe 136 5680 USA/Europe 140 5700USA/Europe 149 5745 USA 153 5765 USA 157 5785 USA 161 5805 USA 165 5825USA

TABLE 6 2.4 GHz, 20 MHz channel BW, 192 Mbps max bit rate TX ST Anten-Code Code Rate nas Rate Modulation Rate NBPSC NCBPS NDBPS 12 2 1 BPSK0.5 1 48 24 24 2 1 QPSK 0.5 2 96 48 48 2 1 16-QAM 0.5 4 192 96 96 2 164-QAM 0.666 6 288 192 108 2 1 64-QAM 0.75 6 288 216 18 3 1 BPSK 0.5 148 24 36 3 1 QPSK 0.5 2 96 48 72 3 1 16-QAM 0.5 4 192 96 144 3 1 64-QAM0.666 6 288 192 162 3 1 64-QAM 0.75 6 288 216 24 4 1 BPSK 0.5 1 48 24 484 1 QPSK 0.5 2 96 48 96 4 1 16-QAM 0.5 4 192 96 192 4 1 64-QAM 0.666 6288 192 216 4 1 64-QAM 0.75 6 288 216

TABLE 7 Channelization for Table 6 Channel Frequency (MHz) 1 2412 2 24173 2422 4 2427 5 2432 6 2437 7 2442 8 2447 9 2452 10 2457 11 2462 12 2467

TABLE 8 5 GHz, 20 MHz channel BW, 192 Mbps max bit rate TX ST Anten-Code Code Rate nas Rate Modulation Rate NBPSC NCBPS NDBPS 12 2 1 BPSK0.5 1 48 24 24 2 1 QPSK 0.5 2 96 48 48 2 1 16-QAM 0.5 4 192 96 96 2 164-QAM 0.666 6 288 192 108 2 1 64-QAM 0.75 6 288 216 18 3 1 BPSK 0.5 148 24 36 3 1 QPSK 0.5 2 96 48 72 3 1 16-QAM 0.5 4 192 96 144 3 1 64-QAM0.666 6 288 192 162 3 1 64-QAM 0.75 6 288 216 24 4 1 BPSK 0.5 1 48 24 484 1 QPSK 0.5 2 96 48 96 4 1 16-QAM 0.5 4 192 96 192 4 1 64-QAM 0.666 6288 192 216 4 1 64-QAM 0.75 6 288 216

TABLE 9 channelization for Table 8 Frequency Frequency Channel (MHz)Country Channel (MHz) Country 240 4920 Japan 244 4940 Japan 248 4960Japan 252 4980 Japan 8 5040 Japan 12 5060 Japan 16 5080 Japan 36 5180USA/Europe 34 5170 Japan 40 5200 USA/Europe 38 5190 Japan 44 5220USA/Europe 42 5210 Japan 48 5240 USA/Europe 46 5230 Japan 52 5260USA/Europe 56 5280 USA/Europe 60 5300 USA/Europe 64 5320 USA/Europe 1005500 USA/Europe 104 5520 USA/Europe 108 5540 USA/Europe 112 5560USA/Europe 116 5580 USA/Europe 120 5600 USA/Europe 124 5620 USA/Europe128 5640 USA/Europe 132 5660 USA/Europe 136 5680 USA/Europe 140 5700USA/Europe 149 5745 USA 153 5765 USA 157 5785 USA 161 5805 USA 165 5825USA

TABLE 10 5 GHz, with 40 MHz channels and max bit rate of 486 Mbps TX STCode Code Rate Antennas Rate Modulation Rate NBPSC 13.5 Mbps 1 1 BPSK0.5 1 27 Mbps 1 1 QPSK 0.5 2 54 Mbps 1 1 16-QAM 0.5 4 108 Mbps 1 164-QAM 0.666 6 121.5 Mbps 1 1 64-QAM 0.75 6 27 Mbps 2 1 BPSK 0.5 1 54Mbps 2 1 QPSK 0.5 2 108 Mbps 2 1 16-QAM 0.5 4 216 Mbps 2 1 64-QAM 0.6666 243 Mbps 2 1 64-QAM 0.75 6 40.5 Mbps 3 1 BPSK 0.5 1 81 Mbps 3 1 QPSK0.5 2 162 Mbps 3 1 16-QAM 0.5 4 324 Mbps 3 1 64-QAM 0.666 6 365.5 Mbps 31 64-QAM 0.75 6 54 Mbps 4 1 BPSK 0.5 1 108 Mbps 4 1 QPSK 0.5 2 216 Mbps4 1 16-QAM 0.5 4 432 Mbps 4 1 64-QAM 0.666 6 486 Mbps 4 1 64-QAM 0.75 6

TABLE 11 Power Spectral Density (PSD) mask for Table 10 PSD Mask 2Frequency Offset dBr −19 MHz to 19 MHz 0 +/−21 MHz −20 +/−30 MHz −28+/−40 MHz and greater −50

TABLE 12 Channelization for Table 10 Frequency Frequency Channel (MHz)Country Channel (MHz) County 242 4930 Japan 250 4970 Japan 12 5060 Japan38 5190 USA/Europe 36 5180 Japan 46 5230 USA/Europe 44 5520 Japan 545270 USA/Europe 62 5310 USA/Europe 102 5510 USA/Europe 110 5550USA/Europe 118 5590 USA/Europe 126 5630 USA/Europe 134 5670 USA/Europe151 5755 USA 159 5795 USA

What is claimed is:
 1. A wireless communication device comprising: acommunication interface; and a processor, the processor and thecommunication interface configured to: support first communications witha first smart meter station (SMSTA) to determine a first at least onecharacteristic of the first SMSTA; support second communications with asecond SMSTA to determine a second at least one characteristic of thesecond SMSTA; generate, based on the first at least one characteristicand the second at least one characteristic, an announcement orassignment frame to direct the first SMSTA to awaken from a powersavings mode to an operational mode and to support third communicationswith the wireless communication device at or during a first time and todirect the second SMSTA to awaken from the power savings mode to theoperational mode and to support fourth communications with the wirelesscommunication device at or during a second time; transmit theannouncement or assignment frame to the first SMSTA; and transmit theannouncement or assignment frame to the second SMSTA.
 2. The wirelesscommunication device of claim 1, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to: generate the announcement or assignment frame also todirect the first SMSTA generate or acquire first sensing or measurementdata that is associated with the first SMSTA and to transmit the firstsensing or measurement data to the wireless communication device at orduring the first time and also to direct the second SMSTA generate oracquire second sensing or measurement data that is associated with thesecond SMSTA and to transmit the second sensing or measurement data tothe wireless communication device at or during the second time.
 3. Thewireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the processor isfurther configured to: generate the announcement or assignment framealso to direct the first SMSTA to transmit first sensing or measurementdata, which has been previously acquired by the first SMSTA before thefirst SMSTA entered into the power savings mode and is stored in memoryof the first SMSTA, to the wireless communication device at or duringthe first time and also to direct the second SMSTA to transmit secondsensing or measurement data, which has been previously acquired by thesecond SMSTA before the second SMSTA entered into the power savings modeand is stored in memory of the second SMSTA, to the wirelesscommunication device at or during the second time.
 4. The wirelesscommunication device of claim 1, wherein the processor and thecommunication interface are further configured to: assign the firstSMSTA into a first group and assign the second SMSTA into a second groupbased on the first at least one characteristic and the second at leastone characteristic; and generate the announcement or assignment framealso to include a first service period (SP) during which the first SMSTAis authorized to transmit first sensing or measurement data that isassociated with the first SMSTA to the wireless communication device andalso to include a second SP during which the second SMSTA is authorizedto transmit second sensing or measurement data that is associated withthe second SMSTA to the wireless communication device.
 5. The wirelesscommunication device of claim 1, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to: support the first communications with the first SMSTAduring a first association process between the first SMSTA and thewireless communication device; and support the second communicationswith the second SMSTA during a second association process between thesecond SMSTA and the wireless communication device.
 6. The wirelesscommunication device of claim 1, wherein the processor and thecommunication interface are further configured to: transmit theannouncement or assignment frame to the first SMSTA in a firsttransmission; and transmit the announcement or assignment frame to thesecond SMSTA in a second transmission that is subsequent to the firsttransmission.
 7. The wireless communication device of claim 1, whereinat least one of the first at least one characteristic of the first SMSTAor the second at least one characteristic of the first SMSTA correspondsto at least one of: a type of data acquired; a frequency at which thedata is acquired; an amount of the data that is acquired; a duration oftime of the power savings mode; a duration of time of the operationalmode; a comparison of the duration of time of the power savings moderelative to the duration of time of the operational mode; a batterystatus; a data rate capability; or a transmission range capability. 8.The wireless communication device of claim 1 further comprising: anaccess point (AP) configured to support communications with the firstSMSTA, the second SMSTA, and at least one wireless station (STA).
 9. Awireless communication device comprising: a communication interface; anda processor, the processor and communication interface configured to:support first communications with a first smart meter station (SMSTA)during a first association process between the first SMSTA and thewireless communication device to determine a first at least onecharacteristic of the first SMSTA; support second communications with asecond SMSTA during a second association process between the secondSMSTA and the wireless communication device to determine a second atleast one characteristic of the second SMSTA; generate, based on thefirst at least one characteristic and the second at least onecharacteristic, an announcement or assignment frame to direct the firstSMSTA to awaken from a power savings mode to an operational mode and tosupport third communications with the wireless communication device ator during a first time and to direct the second SMSTA to awaken from thepower savings mode to the operational mode and to support fourthcommunications with the wireless communication device at or during asecond time; transmit the announcement or assignment frame to the firstSMSTA in a first transmission; and transmit the announcement orassignment frame to the second SMSTA in a second transmission that issubsequent to the first transmission.
 10. The wireless communicationdevice of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to:generate the announcement or assignment frame also to direct the firstSMSTA to transmit first sensing or measurement data, which has beenpreviously acquired by the first SMSTA before the first SMSTA enteredinto the power savings mode and is stored in memory of the first SMSTA,to the wireless communication device at or during the first time andalso to direct the second SMSTA to transmit second sensing ormeasurement data, which has been previously acquired by the second SMSTAbefore the second SMSTA entered into the power savings mode and isstored in memory of the second SMSTA, to the wireless communicationdevice at or during the second time.
 11. The wireless communicationdevice of claim 9, wherein the processor and the communication interfaceare further configured to: assign the first SMSTA into a first group andassign the second SMSTA into a second group based on the first at leastone characteristic and the second at least one characteristic; andgenerate the announcement or assignment frame also to include a firstservice period (SP) during which the first SMSTA is authorized totransmit first sensing or measurement data that is associated with thefirst SMSTA to the wireless communication device and also to include asecond SP during which the second SMSTA is authorized to transmit secondsensing or measurement data that is associated with the second SMSTA tothe wireless communication device.
 12. The wireless communication deviceof claim 9, wherein at least one of the first at least onecharacteristic of the first SMSTA or the second at least onecharacteristic of the first SMSTA corresponds to at least one of: a typeof data acquired; a frequency at which the data is acquired; an amountof the data that is acquired; a duration of time of the power savingsmode; a duration of time of the operational mode; a comparison of theduration of time of the power savings mode relative to the duration oftime of the operational mode; a battery status; a data rate capability;or a transmission range capability.
 13. The wireless communicationdevice of claim 9 further comprising: an access point (AP) configured tosupport communications with the first SMSTA, the second SMSTA, and atleast one wireless station (STA).
 14. A method for execution by awireless communication device, the method comprising: supporting, via acommunication interface of the wireless communication device, firstcommunications with a first smart meter station (SMSTA) to determine afirst at least one characteristic of the first SMSTA; supporting, viathe communication interface, second communications with a second SMSTAto determine a second at least one characteristic of the second SMSTA;generating, based on the first at least one characteristic and thesecond at least one characteristic, an announcement or assignment frameto direct the first SMSTA to awaken from a power savings mode to anoperational mode and to support third communications with the wirelesscommunication device at or during a first time and to direct the secondSMSTA to awaken from the power savings mode to the operational mode andto support fourth communications with the wireless communication deviceat or during a second time; transmitting, via the communicationinterface, the announcement or assignment frame to the first SMSTA; andtransmitting, via the communication interface, the announcement orassignment frame to the second SMSTA.
 15. The method of claim 14 furthercomprising: generating the announcement or assignment frame also todirect the first SMSTA to transmit first sensing or measurement data,which has been previously acquired by the first SMSTA before the firstSMSTA entered into the power savings mode and is stored in memory of thefirst SMSTA, to the wireless communication device at or during the firsttime and also to direct the second SMSTA to transmit second sensing ormeasurement data, which has been previously acquired by the second SMSTAbefore the second SMSTA entered into the power savings mode and isstored in memory of the second SMSTA, to the wireless communicationdevice at or during the second time.
 16. The method of claim 14 furthercomprising: assigning the first SMSTA into a first group and assign thesecond SMSTA into a second group based on the first at least onecharacteristic and the second at least one characteristic; andgenerating the announcement or assignment frame also to include a firstservice period (SP) during which the first SMSTA is authorized totransmit first sensing or measurement data that is associated with thefirst SMSTA to the wireless communication device and also to include asecond SP during which the second SMSTA is authorized to transmit secondsensing or measurement data that is associated with the second SMSTA tothe wireless communication device.
 17. The method of claim 14 furthercomprising: supporting the first communications with the first SMSTAduring a first association process between the first SMSTA and thewireless communication device; and supporting the second communicationswith the second SMSTA during a second association process between thesecond SMSTA and the wireless communication device.
 18. The method ofclaim 14 further comprising: transmitting the announcement or assignmentframe to the first SMSTA in a first transmission; and transmitting theannouncement or assignment frame to the second SMSTA in a secondtransmission that is subsequent to the first transmission.
 19. Themethod of claim 14, wherein at least one of the first at least onecharacteristic of the first SMSTA or the second at least onecharacteristic of the first SMSTA corresponds to at least one of: a typeof data acquired; a frequency at which the data is acquired; an amountof the data that is acquired; a duration of time of the power savingsmode; a duration of time of the operational mode; a comparison of theduration of time of the power savings mode relative to the duration oftime of the operational mode; a battery status; a data rate capability;or a transmission range capability.
 20. The method of claim 14, whereinthe wireless communication device is an access point (AP) that isconfigured to support communications with the first SMSTA, the secondSMSTA, and at least one wireless station (STA).